As a health and fitness journalist for over a decade, I come across tons of statistics, studies, and numbers every year. But who has been living rent-free in my head since 2019?YouGov investigation They found that one in eight men thought they could win points against Serena Williams.
yes, that Serena Williams. As we all know, he has won 23 Grand Slam titles, and in one match he once made 24 service aces, and can punch out his serve at 196 miles per hour (although 12% of players will not).
The idea that ordinary men can do extraordinary things with top-level female athletes is unfortunately all too common. The University of Virginia track star was back on display during the holidays. Alana Sabakan Posted video The TikTok shows what happens when an average man who is not a runner becomes so convinced that he can beat her, a Division 1 athlete, in one of her signature events, the 400 meters. Ta.
Spoiler: He couldn’t.
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“The guy said there was no way a woman could beat him. He couldn’t believe it,” said the 2022 UVA All-American, who is pursuing a master’s degree in public health. Sabakan, a graduate student studying for the project, told SELF. “He didn’t know that [the 400 meters] Running without training is difficult. This is one of the most difficult track events. ”
At first, she wasn’t even interested in the challenge, but the man (a very close friend of her boyfriend) kept up the challenge for days. “I started to get a little bored,” she says.
One day, when everyone was by the track, he brought up the topic of racing again, and Sabakan decided to give it a try. After all, she says, she had a workout scheduled that day anyway that included 400-meter repeats. “Certainly, I thought, why not?” Sabakan said. “If I can get him to join me, then maybe he’ll stop talking.”
He brought his parents, family and friends to watch and then the game started. Sabakan deliberately stuck to him for his first 200 meters, but then he began to decline rapidly. In fact, by the time of her final kick, he is already well out of frame.
“I thought it was something that would start happening without any training…I hit a wall,” Sabakhan says. “I took this as an opportunity to start pushing a little harder and finish a little harder. Once I realized with 100 meters to go that he was nowhere to be seen, I just kept pushing. I wanted to finish with a good result. It’s a good habit to have as a runner.”