"Rather than simply taking meaning from participation, I want to run the best race I can in my current condition. I will make this an opportunity to take my records to the next level."
Namadi Joel-Jin (20, Yecheon County Office), the next-generation face of Korean sprinting who will become the first Korean track athlete to compete at the "Seiko Golden Grand Prix," said this in a recent written interview with the Seoul Economic Daily. Joel-Jin will compete as an invited athlete at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix to be held in Tokyo, Japan, on May 17.
The Seiko Golden Grand Prix is a "Gold Level" meet in the international athletics series organized by World Athletics (WA). It holds the authority of the level just below the top-tier Diamond League, with world-class athletes competing and offering high world ranking points. Joel-Jin is the first Korean track athlete to compete in this meet.
"I think competing at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix is a really great opportunity for me. Just being able to stand on the same stage as world-class athletes is something I look forward to," Joel-Jin said. "I feel a great sense of responsibility, especially as the first Korean track athlete to be invited."
The meet has drawn the attention of track and field fans worldwide, particularly because Noah Lyles of the United States, the 100m gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is scheduled to compete. Joel-Jin, who has long cited Lyles as his role model, said, "Lyles is an athlete I've always tried to learn a lot from by watching videos." He added, "If I get to compete in the same race as an athlete who until now felt so distant, it will be a special moment where I can accurately gauge my current position."
"I feel a lot of excitement, but rather than being intimidated on that stage, I want to run my race even more boldly," he added.
Joel-Jin's recent momentum is formidable. In the 100m preliminaries at the 55th National Athletics Championships by Category, which ended on April 30, he clocked 10.19 seconds, beating the previous meet record (10.22 seconds) by 0.03 seconds and also breaking his personal best (previously 10.23 seconds). He also won the 100m at the Izumo meet in Japan last month with a time of 10.23 seconds.
The rising Joel-Jin has set "growth" as his goal for this meet. "While records and rankings matter at this meet, my biggest goal is to experience firsthand the speed, race management and race flow that come from competing directly with world-class athletes," he said. "I want to see if I can maintain my pace without wavering on a big stage. I want to use this experience as a stepping stone to grow into an athlete who can compete on even higher stages in the future."
Joel-Jin, who is writing a new chapter in Korean athletics history, will depart for Tokyo on May 15 for his final preparations.
