Sartaj Singh
Netflix’s ‘Sprint’ season 2 is a sports documentary series that followed the top men’s and women’s 100 and 200-meter track and field athletes as they qualified for and converged on the 2024 Olympic Games. The athletes in focus included Noah Lyles, a seemingly unstoppable force with a larger-than-life personality. He is coached by Lance Brauman, a man of few words who helped him improve his running times as he entered the unforgiving world of the Olympics following a successful 2023 World Championship run. With Lyles becoming a double world champion by winning the 100 and 200-meter events, Brauman beamed with pride and breathed a sigh of relief, only to then help him concentrate on the next goal. As his work behind the historic victory came to light, one may seek to get better acquainted with the calm and composed Lance Brauman.
Lance Brauman Faced Controversy Early in His Career
Lance Brauman is the head coach for PURE Athletics, one of the most accomplished sprint groups worldwide, which boasts an array of world champions in its order. Brauman’s coaching career began in 1994 as the assistant coach at Auburn University, after which he changed over to Barton County Community College for seven years and trained some of the world’s best sprinters. Here, he reportedly became embroiled in malpractice that had been taking place before his joining, involving illegal payments to athletes through a scheme for work that had not been rendered. He was found guilty of embezzlement, mail fraud, and theft and was given a prison sentence of a year and one day.
At the time, he worked at the University of Arkansas and coached Tyson Gay, but he had to resign from both roles. After nine months in prison, Brauman was released in 2007 and took to coaching Tyson Gay again, with the athlete dedicating his 2007 World Championship 100m win in Osaka to the coach. He partnered with Adidas and started PURE Athletics in 2007, training athletes like Wayde van Niekerk, Junelle Bromfield, Méba-Mickaël Zeze, Kendal Williams, and Noah Williams, with the group amassing 21 Olympic medals and 35 outdoor championship medals combined.
Lance Brauman Gave it His All to Prepare Noah Lyles for the Paris Olympics
Following Lyles’ triumph at the 2023 World Championships, Lance Brauman and the double champion took a boat ride on the Danube while departing from the arena in Budapest, Hungary. Lyles grooved to the music as he and his coach celebrated the monumental achievement. Their celebrations were not prolonged as the athlete and coach returned to training in September 2023 for the upcoming Diamond League Finals. At the end of the year, Brauman congratulated Noah Lyles for winning the esteemed Athlete of the Year award for 2023.
February 2024 saw another victory for the sprinter as he bagged his first USA national indoor 60m title with the coach cheering him on in Glasgow, Scotland. Lyles aced the US trials for the Olympics, breaking the 28-year-old trials record in 200m alongside Kenny Bednarek while securing first place. “It’s that time of year! Locked and loaded for a big 2 weeks,” wrote Brauman on Instagram. He also sympathized with Christian Coleman, an accomplished sprinter who did not qualify for the Olympics.
“I feel sorry for Christian,” he said in an interview with Run Blog Run. “He’s one hell of an athlete. He got into a situation where he had some tough competitors, but that does not take away from the fact that he is one hell of an athlete.” He continued preparing Lyles for his double events at the Paris Olympics, which resulted in the athlete securing gold in the 100m sprint and bronze in the 200m. Lyle actually specializes in the 200m, but he got COVID mere days before the big race and yet he still compete after having kept the diagnosis to himself.
Lance Brauman is a Second Generation Athletics Coach
Lance Brauman, the head coach of PURE Athletics, is actually a second-generation trainer. His father, Ken Brauman, has served as the head coach for the boys and girls cross country and track and field coach at Seminole High School since 1983. The veteran trainer managed the US Men’s 2012 London Olympics Track and Field Team. Soon afterward, he took up the position of Director of Track and Field at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, in 2013.
Lance has a great relationship with his father and mother, Theresa Feeley Brauman, who often grace his events with their presence. The national coach treasures his family, especially his daughters, Jayci Marie and Kara Shay. Jayci began her sophomore year at Milligan University in 2023, while Kara started high school at Montverde Academy in 2023. After the rigorous 2023 season of coaching, Brauman celebrated the New Year with family and shared a heartwarming dance with his daughter.
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