Sprinter Sam Blaskowski is facing backlash and numerous calls to respond to a widely circulated viral video that appears to show him using racist language.
The video surfaced on social media platform X late last week and showed the person, who appears to be Blaskowski, dancing and gesturing to the camera as he repeatedly says the N-word while holding a pizza wheel cutter in his hand.
It is not clear when the video was recorded, but the clip appears to have originated on Snapchat, where users can upload videos on their profiles that last for 24 hours before being deleted. The videos can be shared to a user’s entire list of followers or just sent to a specific friend group.
But comments on social media claim that the video dates back to Blaskowski’s time as a student at Oshkosh West High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and could have been recorded between August 2017 to June 2021.
Another post that originated from his Snapchat public profile showed the image of a black male against the wall of an indoor pool and was captioned: “imagine posting this. why can’t black people swim ? cause shit don’t float.”
Blaskowski, 23, trains with renowned track group Star Athletics and primarily competes in the 100m and 200m.
The Florida-based club is led by three-time Olympian Dennis Mitchell and boasts a deep roster of many of the biggest stars in the sport, like Sha’Carri Richardson, Kenny Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Blaskowski can be seen prominently in several posts and videos on the team’s social media channels alongside its athletes and coaches.
Star Athletics’ roster is primarily African American and Blaskowski was recently shown repeatedly training alongside the club’s top stars in the World Athletics “Iron Sharpens Iron” documentary that was released in early September which follows the team’s preparation for the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in July. Blaskowski is also mentioned in the credits.
The club has not publicly released a statement addressing the matter and Mitchell did not provide a response when contacted via email.
Reactions to the video were predictably critical and have now amassed a flood of comments on social media over not only the content but Blaskowski’s lack of response to address a clip that identifies him using inflammatory language.
On Monday, Olympic champion Justin Gatlin spoke about the video and photo in a clip he shared on social media and was clear that Blaskowski’s actions and the recent fallout are a poor representation of track and field.
“Those kinds of things cannot happen in our sport,” Gatlin said. “That’s not going to happen. We deal with that on a daily basis in the world. We should at least have sports as a sanctuary, a safe haven where all people who are of athletic ability can be able to join each other regardless of your race, your color, what country you come from. That’s where we should be.”
And while the video has drawn polarizing responses, some people have accused purported running journalists, insiders and personalities within the sport of overlooking what clearly appears to be Blaskowski in the clip, with Gatlin being the only notable figure to publicly comment on matter.
Blaskowski competed for NCAA Division III University of Wisconsin–La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin from 2022 to 2025 in numerous events like the 60m, 100m, 200m and relays. He won two individual titles and a relay title at the 2024 NCAA III Outdoor National Championships in the 100m and 200m.
At the Music City Track Carnival in Cleveland in May, Blaskowski ran a 9.89 in the men’s 100m, which at the time was the fastest in the event by an American in 2026, with Blaskowski being reported as the “Fastest White Man Ever” on blogs and social media.
The time has since been surpassed by Ronnie Baker in 9.88 and Noah Lyles in 9.79 who both clocked their times at the USATF Outdoor Championships in New York in July.
According to TVP Sport, a division of Polish public broadcaster TVP, Blaskowski indicated in August that he looked to represent Poland in international competition but is still listed under the United States on his World Athletics profile page.
