Move over Bryan Habana, there’s a new kid in town: a 10.13-second 100m sprinter turned US rugby sevens winger named Carlin Isles. Read his ten step journey from a speed obsessed ‘weird kid’ to rugby’s fastest.

There he goes: Isles was an international rugby player for 46 seconds before scoring his first try

1. Embracing my inner geek

“Since I was a kid in third grade [aged around eight] growing up in Ohio, I always liked to run and I was always fascinated about being fast. I was a weird kid. I always did lots of research on how to get faster. I would stay up until three in the morning watching videos of sprinters, studying techniques and body angles. I had a notebook of how to run faster.”

2. The Kansas Cannonball

“The guy I probably looked up to the most was Maurice Greene. I liked the way he used to run, he was so powerful. He knew how to use his speed distribution. I tried to emulate his running style. I also used to watch the likes of Carl Lewis and Dwain Chambers and of the younger generation coming through, Tyson Gay. I watch those videos over and over again.” 

Minnie Mo: As a child he idolised Greene, who ran a 9.79 100m world record in 1999.

3. Track highs

“I was coached by Darryl Woodson in track and I had a great group to train with: Michael Rodgers, Bianca Knight, Natasha Hastings and Michael Tinsley. I ran a windy 10.13 for the 100m last March and a 6.65 for 60m at the US Indoor Championships [missing out on a place in the final by 0.007s]. I was only really thinking about competing at US Olympic Trials.”

4. Never stop searching

“I searched the internet and come across some rugby videos. Back at high school I’d been encouraged to play rugby but it was like, ‘rugby? Nah.’ I didn’t really know a lot about the sport but as soon as I saw rugby on video and I saw how wide the field was, the space, the gaps, I thought: this is for me.”

5. Athletics’ loss…

“I emailed Nigel Melville, the CEO of US Rugby, and expressed my interest. I didn’t think I would hear back. My main focus was on the US Olympic Trials but the next morning he rang me up. I quickly met them. I was so excited. Sometimes I can’t believe I took that risk. I had a vision and it paid off.”

Isles: “I’m going to try and take risks and do things people wouldn’t normally expect”

6. Practice, practice, practice

“It was crazy. I started playing for my club for a month last June before moving on to the national Rugby Sevens team. I started to work on my pass and other elements of my game. The more I did it the more I learned from. I didn’t really know how to pass off my left hand side, my right is stronger and I found that really difficult. But I just kept on working, working. I picked up the physical side pretty quickly. That was never a problem.”

7. The hardest yard

“It was very, very, very difficult to adapt from the sprint training to the training for rugby. It sucked. I tried to manage by speed and endurance, so I don’t hinder either one. I thought, ‘man this is the worst running I’ve ever done!’ It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to train for.”

8. Getting better

“I feel I’m learning from each tournament and I’ve done pretty well so far. I’m putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and the more I play the more confident I’m becoming. For future tournaments I want to be really exciting to watch. I’m going to try and take risks and do things people wouldn’t normally expect.”

9. Finding top gear

“My track background has helped me because I know how to use my speed. I know when to power out, stay relaxed and shift gears, reach my top-end speed and get away from people. I know how to use my energy systems and my force and I have a good technique, so when I do breakaway runs I don’t get caught.”

10. I did it my way

“The main thing I wanted to do [when I took up rugby] was inspire people and for people to see my vision. I wanted to prove that you could do anything if you could set your heart to it. I also had my own individual goals to be the fastest US rugby player and then the fastest player in the world. Then it has happened so quickly. I can’t believe it.”