USC superstar senior sprinter Garrett Kaalund doubts himself — a lot.

Though he already had the fastest 200-meter time in the world this year when he stepped onto the track in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, he questioned himself once again. Then, like he typically does, he proved himself wrong.

Kaalund, 22, crossed the finish line at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a time of 20.06 seconds, not only breaking his own school record and setting a Big Ten meet record, but logging the third-fastest time ever recorded in the event.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, I want to run this time,’ I tell myself, ‘Alright, I want to prove myself wrong,’” Kaalund said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “‘I don’t think I can reach this, but I want to prove myself wrong.’ Every time I step on that track, I want to prove myself wrong.”

As Kaalund enters the midpoint of his fourth collegiate season and second year with the Trojans, one of USC’s sprinting assistant coaches, Brenton Emanuel, said he came into this season with one main goal in mind: winning a national title.

“He had an opportunity to turn pro last year, but he came back because he felt the job wasn’t finished,” said Emanuel, one of USC’s assistant coaches for sprints and hurdles, in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “He wants to get as many national titles as possible.”

On March 13, when he races at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as the top-seeded favorite in the 200 meters, Kaalund will have a chance to accomplish that goal.

Kaalund’s ‘heart’ stood out as a recruit

At an early age, Kaalund’s mom signed him up for track because of his energetic nature. While both Kaalund and his family saw his natural talent early on, Kaalund didn’t decide to try to run collegiately until his junior year of high school.

“There was a point in high school in which we sat down and were like, ‘Alright, either we can just let track go and completely focus on academics, or we can see how far we can really get with track,’” Kaalund said. “And I was like ‘Well, God gave me the gift, so I’ll make it to its fullest extent.’”

Following an injury in his freshman year and a sophomore season defined by the coronavirus pandemic, Kaalund’s first full high school track season came in 11th grade. That year, Kaalund stood out with a third-place finish in the 400-meter final at the Texas state meet and a second-place finish at the same distance at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Emanuel, who was involved in Kaalund’s recruiting as an assistant coach for the Nebraska track team, was impressed with his determination in the Nike Outdoor Nationals race. Despite being in an undesirable outside lane, Emanuel said, Kaalund persevered and managed to earn a silver medal in the event.

“That just showed me that, one, he had some heart. He didn’t really care what lane he was in,” Emanuel said. “Just talking to him, he just has a different fire about him. He wants to be great. You can feel that energy when you’re talking to him.”

During Kaalund’s senior year, he took home Texas state titles in the 200-meter and 400-meter, breaking his high school’s records in both events.

Kaalund began his collegiate career in 2023 at Nebraska, where he competed for two seasons and earned 2024 second-team outdoor All-American honors in the 200-meter. When USC hired Emanuel, Kaalund’s sprinting coach at Nebraska, in August 2024, Kaalund followed his coach and officially transferred to USC at the beginning of the 2025 season.

For Kaalund, the biggest difference he noticed with the Trojans was the confidence of the athletes. He said that the faith his teammates had in themselves motivated him to be more confident in his own abilities.

“Now, more times than not, I’m going to be more confident in what I say or the goals that I want to try and produce,” Kaalund said.

Unique mentality drives improvement

Though Kaalund’s internal doubt drives him, he hasn’t been the only person doubting himself throughout his career. On the preseason watchlist for the Bowerman Award, which celebrates the most outstanding women’s and men’s athletes in track, Kaalund’s name was nowhere to be found, despite earning bronze in the 200m at last year’s national championship.

Emanuel said that all the skepticism from outside voices fuels Kaalund to run even faster every week.

“People still doubt him, and I know every time when they say he can’t do something, I know he’s going to do it based on that,” Emanuel said. “The inner motivation is just so strong with him. You tell [him] you can’t do something, he’s going to prove you wrong every single time.”

Even at track practice, doubt from Kaalund’s teammates drives him to improve his results. Emanuel said that when a freshman teammate started talking smack to Kaalund about getting out of the blocks slowly, he knew that Kaalund was going to use that insult as motivation and beat his fellow Trojan out of the blocks.

“I told the young [freshman], ‘You fed into what he likes to do. You fed into him. Saying he couldn’t do something, you fed right into that, and that’s why it happened to you,’” Emanuel said. “‘That’s why he beat you: Because you gave him the motivation that he needed to beat you.’”

Kaalund focused on strong starts to boost performances

When Kaalund came to USC, he said that he and Emanuel focused extensively on improving how he started races.

“We already knew that the latter half of my race — the second half — is always going to be really good. It’s usually very consistent,” Kaalund said. “I would always fall behind out the blocks. I would always have to claw my way back [from the start].”

After countless hours adjusting his steps and refining his motion until his start felt more fluid, Kaalund said he was finally able to run a complete race without his start holding him back. Kaalund’s improved starts have helped propel him into the best form of his collegiate career — and one of the best forms in the world.

Emanuel said Kaalund’s unrelenting work ethic — whether it’s focusing on starts or studying his competitors — has not only directly led to his own record-breaking performances, but also influenced his teammates to be better.

“When he steps on the track, he’s going to give you 100% — nothing less, nothing more, but always 100%,” Emanuel said. “He’s watching film. He’s asking me questions. He’s calling me. He’s texting me at night, ‘What did I do wrong?’ He’s a perfectionist, and so I think those qualities rub off on other people because [they] want to know why he’s so good.”

As he prepares for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13 and looks ahead to the outdoor season, Kaalund said that he has three main hopes: to be crowned an indoor national champion, to break the NCAA record in the 200-meter and to win four gold medals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter.

Only two men in NCAA history — Ohio State’s Jesse Owens and LSU’s Xavier Carter — have ever won four NCAA titles in a single year. Owens went on to win four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics for Team USA. 

Kaalund will have the chance to accomplish his first goal when he races the 200-meter at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend.

“Win it all, or nothing,” Emanuel said. “That’s the goal: be the king of the mountain.”