By Paul Hof-Mahoney
November 23, 2024
Sidi Njie of Westlake High School (Atlanta) announced his commitment to run for the University of Georgia earlier today. Njie is the top-ranked 400m recruit in the Class of 2025, having run a PB of 45.37 in May at the GHSA State Championships. Over the summer, Njie won the U.S. U20 title in the 400m and went on to take bronze at World Juniors, as well as gold in the 4x400m. He also has impressive 200m credentials, winning the GHSA crown in his junior year and owning a PB of 20.63.
At Georgia, Njie will be coached by Caryl Smith Gilbert and Karim Abdel Wahab. Under their tutelage, Christopher Morales-Williams put together one of the best 400m seasons in NCAA history last spring, sweeping the indoor and outdoor titles and setting an unofficial world record in the indoor 400m.
Njie is represented by NETWORK, a sports marketing agency that also represents Team USA Olympian Rachel Glenn. “We are always excited to work with elite athletes” said Justin J. Giangrande, CEO of NETWORK, “especially those who understand how to breakthrough and market themselves. Clearly, Sidi fits that profile as a generational talent who is poised to become the face of the future of track. We can’t wait to watch him succeed and partner with him every step of the way.”
Njie sat down for an interview with CITIUS MAG to talk about his decision to head to Athens and lessons learned from his busy summer.
The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
CITIUS MAG: Sidi, you’re down to your final five schools. You’re looking at Alabama, Texas, Georgia, LSU and Florida. Can you talk a little bit about what the recruitment process has looked like for you with these elite programs over the last couple months?
Sidi Njie: It was great, seeing every facility, meeting every coach, meeting all the athletes that go there and the team. Everything about it was great. The thing that really stood out for me at every school was the facilities, and how I’d be able to get cryotherapy or red light therapy. Knowing that in the SEC, they usually carry the top facilities, and that really intrigued me.
There’s not really a wrong decision to make with those five, but can you let the people know where you’ll be taking your talents next fall?
I’ll be taking my talents to the University of Georgia. I really like the coaching staff and the team. It’s built around my personality and the things that I look for in everyday life. The academic side, the facilities, my teammates, knowing I’ll be able to go to coaches like how I do now. It meant a lot to me and they showed all those characteristics on my visit.
Georgia has had a lot of success in the 400m the last couple years, and a lot of that has been thanks to head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert and sprints coach Karim Abdel Wahab. Could you talk a little bit about what you saw from those coaches that really stood out from the other excellent coaches you met with during this process?
All the other coaches were saying how I was the one, how I would fit perfectly into their program. And of course I believed them, but when I went to Georgia it was a different feeling. I felt like I was at home.
Coach Caryl is a woman, and it’s different. I want to experience having a woman as my coach because nowadays there’s not that many head coaches that are women. I’ve had male coaches my entire life and I wanted something different, I wanted a change. And Karim, I really trust him. I trust in his resume and what he’s done the past few years. I really changed my mind on me deciding Georgia. The coaches are a great duo and I really trust them, and I know I’m going to succeed when I do get to the university.
400m runners at Georgia have been excellent in recent years, but Christopher Morales-Williams really took that to another level this past season. How much excited are you knowing that you’re going into a program that takes people as talented as you and Chris and produces that level of greatness?
That’s what stood out to me the most, just knowing that I’m going to a program that has produced both an indoor and outdoor champion. That’s very rare, because it’s hard to win indoors, then turn around three months later and win outdoors without having that type of pressure. Knowing what type of athlete I am, I can do the exact same thing, and I really feel like Karim can take me there and help me reach those new heights.
This summer was really big for you. You became the national junior champion over 400m and then you go down to Peru for World Juniors, taking home a bronze in the open 400m and gold in the 4x400m. Can you talk a bit about some of the lessons you learned this summer with really great national and international competitions?
Let’s start with when I was running at [U.S.] Juniors in Oregon. It was very different for me because when I go up to Oregon, a majority of the time I’ve lost a lot. But I had a conversation with my Nike mentor and she told me to run like how you run at home, and that really hit home for me. I went out there and did my thing, and it changed everything, and I ended up winning that race that day.
That really pulled the momentum over to the World Juniors because it was different. I was going out of the country, seeing new things, and meeting people from around the world. But at the end of the day, it was the same exact people as if I was back at home, I was racing the same people. I just had to look at it like that, because when that race started, I took over. I changed into the person I’ve always been and just ran my race. That’s what really helped me win and place third in the open and then win gold. Just having that mentality that it doesn’t matter where you’re at. You do what you do, then you’ll be good.
How important is your support system going to be in this upcoming year with all the accolades you’ve achieved, and now “Georgia commit” next to your name?
Definitely important. They’re looking for great things this season and I am too. Today at practice I had 25 100s. The coaches gave us 15, but I did an extra 10 because I know that’s what it takes to be great, that’s what it’ll take for me to run 44 seconds this year. So with me and my coaches knowing I’m going to go the extra mile and do the extra thing just so I can be better and I can be great. That’s what really challenges me the most.
And of course my mom and my dad, they’re going to be at every meet. They’re going to be there watching and I’m going to put on a show for everybody. They mean the world to me.
Last fall, when you were announced as part of the Nike Elite program, you had an interview with RunnerSpace where you talked about your first track race. You said you were 4 years old and you cried the whole race. If you could go back to Little Sidi now that you’re a Georgia commit, a U.S. U20 champion, what would you tell him as he comes across the line crying at the end of his first race?
I’d give him a hug and whisper in his ear “Keep going.” It’s crazy that I’m in this position right now, I would’ve never imagined this. A lot of people say that, but it’s true and it’s real. To put yourself in this position, it’s really hard. You have to be 1%, and I look at it like that. It’s 1% of people in this world that can do some of the things that we all do, it’s not easy. So I’d just tell him to keep going, keep working hard. And listen to your coaches, that’s really important.
Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
