Garrett Kaalund Wins Men's 200m Title, Talks Overcoming Injury and USC Culture | Post-Race Interview 2026 USATF

USC sprinter Garrett Kaalund delivers a massive 20.04 performance to win the Men's 200m National Championship at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Kaalund breaks down coming off the turn, seeing Noah Lyles pull up, staying focused through the line, and why this national title won't change his mindset until everyone is at their absolute best. He also praises the USC coaching staff and teammate Max Thomas.

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Video Transcript

Congratulations, Garrett.

National champion after essentially just not running the entire outdoor season.

What's been happening in practice to make sure that you were sharp for this moment?

Kind of the biggest thing was just getting back to where we was.

I mean, main thing was kind of just trying to hit the same times we was hitting in the fall, kind of right before indoor, and kind of seeing if we could replicate those, you know, in that short time span we had before nationals.

And along with that, kind of just going to the trainers every day and making sure that the body is right.

Any kind of tweaks that I felt, gotta let them know.

We gotta make, you know, adjustments basically for everything we did.

And so, it was kind of just being on top of that, as well as keeping the goal, which is being able to run there.

What did Noah say to you after the race?

How big of an impact do you think that had on you?

So, coming off the curve, I'm like, "All right, I'm assuming Noah is probably coming."

And at the corner of my eye, I see him, see him, like, moving up.

I'm like, "All right, this is where This is really what I wanted," 'cause this could help me, essentially a piece to get what my race needs to be better in.

And that's when I saw him stop and disappear.

I'm like, "That's Well, I can While I understand right now I could possibly win this, that is not how I wanted to win it."

But it's understandably, it happens in all races, and I can't really stop what's hap- ha- it happening, so it's kind of just stay focused and make my way to that finish line.

Are you looking to extend your season after this, or is it over?

I believe it's over.

I don't think I made, the rankings for the Ultimate World Championships.

What did Noah tell you after?

I saw you come up to him, y'all had a little talk, you know, kind of what's your year, what was, what was that like for you two?

The main thing he said was, "Hey, I'm gonna be back."

I was like, "It's understandable."

I got nothing to apo- I, I also have nothing to apologize for, as it literally just happens.

And so, I mean, my, my biggest goal literally coming in here was to race against him to see where in my race that I need to get better at.

And so, while my main goal was to achieve a different goal, which I didn't think was possible, was achieved, so I'm grateful for that.

You said before coming in that your coach had to tell you the USAs was still happening this year.

That's true.

I wonder what it means to now be a national champion.

It's kind of, it's kind of crazy.

Quite frankly, I never expected to become a national champion in my entire career.

So this is very shocking.

I'm extremely grateful, and it just lets me know that I now gotta work even harder than I was for last year, not last year, last, last couple of seasons indoors when I ran nineteen.

So but then again, you always gotta work harder than the previous year before.

So I mean, it's just kind of just keeping focused now and not letting the moment get to me.

Does a race like this give you confidence about where you're heading toward against not only American athletes, but abroad?

As much as I would like to say yes, I'm gonna be honest and say no, as for one, this isn't the peak of how I can perform, and two, it wasn't the peak of how Noah can perform.

So until I can race them at their best, no injuries, while, as well as performing my best, I cannot say whether or not it increases my confidence or decreases it.

Yeah, confidence-wise, I mean, just what does this give you going into the Olympics, obviously, you know, ways to improve for next year and everything pushing forward?

I think ri- I'm gonna be relatively the same.

I mean, it's not giving me confidence, as once again, as I stated, I didn't race him against his peak, nor did I perform at my peak.

And so that means for me, in my mindset, nothing has changed.

I need to be able to race you at your best in order for me to make assumptions upon myself.

Yeah.

Well, well, I guess as far as the race, what was the most confident, the start, you know, kind of the drive phase?

It's gotta be the start.

I mean, usually my start is pretty trash, and I get caught up instantly.

This was one time in which I felt as if I didn't get caught instantly, and I was able to be with the crowd coming off of that curve.

National champion at the collegiate level.

What does it mean for the program at USC or does it?

Well, so what's actually crazy was initially I was at Nebraska, and then I transferred over to USC, and one of the first things I had literally saw about USC was this is a program that looks like they could get it done, but at the biggest moment, they don't.

And so I was like, "Man, I might be coming to the wrong program."

But that first year there, I was like, "Okay, these dudes know what they're doing.

We got Coach Watts.

We got my boy Coach E. We got Coach JB.

There's no way we're losing."

And in turn, we didn't lose.

We took both national titles, and then along with that, kind of everybody else who kind of went past NCAAs still ran really well.

And so that lets me know, okay, this program, they could pace themselves and not let just NCAAs cloud their mind, cloud their judgment, and these coaches are not just so self-centered upon their own success, and they care about the athletes that they're training.

And so following up this year is the same thing.

I mean, even though it was an off year, not that many people ha- was, you know, competing, the first thing you see is both me and my teammate Christine repping the shield in the finals.

And I mean, a lot of times you're only really gonna be seeing pros in the finals.

And so while understandably so, there wasn't that many pros here, it still takes e- it still takes, not effort, but a, it still takes a certain amount of skill and just effort put in in order to even get to the finals, regardless of who's there and who's not.

We saw Max waiting for you after you were done with this interview, things of that nature.

What does it feel like to have, like, your former teammate sitting there just waiting for you?

And then also just again, what do you wish he mentioned the, the future?

I mean, well, well, regarding Max, that's, that's my boy right there.

I mean, I didn't even notice, we've been racing each other since, like, in, in high school.

Now granted, I didn't know who he was, but we was racing.

And throughout freshman and sophomore year, we were kind of, we, we wouldn't really be at the same meets, but it's kind of, we would kind of be in that same, you know, range of, like, our times for the two hundred.

And once we kind of collided sophomore year going around, regionals at NCAAs, that's when, like, I really knew who Max was.

And we never, we still didn't really talk, but once junior year rolled around, I got into USC, I'm like, "Okay, out of everybody here, I know Max."

That's about it.

I know Max, and I know he's a slider.

And kind of just, you know, having that kind of awareness of each other and knowing that we was essentially the training partner each of us was waiting for, it kind of just pushes us and get, it let us, you know, build a, a closer bond than normal.

And so regardless of if he was the one who won or I was the one who won, we would've been standing there waiting for the other one, telling them, you know, "Hey, I knew you could do this."

And that's my boy right there.

And then along that, and USC alumni, I mean, USC pride is, prides itself upon, "Hey, after college, we're still gonna be there.

We're still gonna remember what you did.

We're still gonna help you out."

So I'm not surprised in the slightest that they're here supporting.

And I'm truly grateful for that.

Congratulations, Garrett.

All right.

Thank you very much.

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