As a well being and health journalist for over a decade, I come throughout tons of stats, surveys, and figures annually. However one which’s lived rent-free in my mind since 2019? The YouGov survey that discovered one in eight males suppose they’ll rating a degree towards Serena Williams.

Sure, that Serena Williams. You already know, the one who’s racked up 23 Grand Slam titles, as soon as scored 24 aces in a single match, and may blister a serve previous you (however possibly not, I assume, 12% of dudes) at 126 miles per hour.

The assumption that common guys can do extraordinary issues towards top-of-the-game feminine athletes is sadly all too frequent. It was on show as soon as once more over the vacations, when College of Virginia monitor star Alahna Sabbakhan posted a video on TikTok that confirmed what occurs when a median, non-runner man is kind of satisfied he may beat her, a Division I athlete, in one in all her marquee occasions: the 400 meters.

Spoiler: He couldn’t.

“The man was saying that there’s no manner a girl may beat him; he simply wouldn’t consider it,” Sabbakhan, a 2022 All-American for UVA and grad pupil learning for her grasp’s in public well being, tells SELF. “He didn’t know that [the 400 meters] is a tough factor to run with out coaching. It’s one of many hardest monitor occasions.”

At first, she didn’t even entertain the problem, however the man—a peripheral buddy of her boyfriend’s—saved happening about it for days. “I began getting a little bit bored with it,” she says.

Sooner or later once they had been all by the monitor, he introduced up the race once more, and Sabbakhan determined to go for it. In any case, she says, she had a exercise scheduled that day that included 400-meter repeats anyway. “I figured, positive, why not?” Sabbakhan says. “I assume I may have him be part of me and possibly that may get him to cease speaking.”

He introduced his mother and father, household, and mates to spectate, after which they received began. Sabbakhan deliberately caught with him for the primary 200 meters, after which he began to fade—quick. A lot so, in reality, that he’s already effectively out of body throughout her final kick.

“That’s what I type of figured would begin to occur with no coaching…you hit the wall,” Sabbakhan says. “I took that as a chance to begin pushing a little bit bit tougher, end a little bit tougher. After I spotted that by the final 100 meters that he was nowhere in sight, I simply saved pushing anyway, as a result of it’s behavior to be in as a runner to complete effectively.”

As a well being and health journalist for over a decade, I come throughout tons of stats, surveys, and figures annually. However one which’s lived rent-free in my mind since 2019? The YouGov survey that discovered one in eight males suppose they’ll rating a degree towards Serena Williams.

Sure, that Serena Williams. You already know, the one who’s racked up 23 Grand Slam titles, as soon as scored 24 aces in a single match, and may blister a serve previous you (however possibly not, I assume, 12% of dudes) at 126 miles per hour.

The assumption that common guys can do extraordinary issues towards top-of-the-game feminine athletes is sadly all too frequent. It was on show as soon as once more over the vacations, when College of Virginia monitor star Alahna Sabbakhan posted a video on TikTok that confirmed what occurs when a median, non-runner man is kind of satisfied he may beat her, a Division I athlete, in one in all her marquee occasions: the 400 meters.

Spoiler: He couldn’t.

“The man was saying that there’s no manner a girl may beat him; he simply wouldn’t consider it,” Sabbakhan, a 2022 All-American for UVA and grad pupil learning for her grasp’s in public well being, tells SELF. “He didn’t know that [the 400 meters] is a tough factor to run with out coaching. It’s one of many hardest monitor occasions.”

At first, she didn’t even entertain the problem, however the man—a peripheral buddy of her boyfriend’s—saved happening about it for days. “I began getting a little bit bored with it,” she says.

Sooner or later once they had been all by the monitor, he introduced up the race once more, and Sabbakhan determined to go for it. In any case, she says, she had a exercise scheduled that day that included 400-meter repeats anyway. “I figured, positive, why not?” Sabbakhan says. “I assume I may have him be part of me and possibly that may get him to cease speaking.”

He introduced his mother and father, household, and mates to spectate, after which they received began. Sabbakhan deliberately caught with him for the primary 200 meters, after which he began to fade—quick. A lot so, in reality, that he’s already effectively out of body throughout her final kick.

“That’s what I type of figured would begin to occur with no coaching…you hit the wall,” Sabbakhan says. “I took that as a chance to begin pushing a little bit bit tougher, end a little bit tougher. After I spotted that by the final 100 meters that he was nowhere in sight, I simply saved pushing anyway, as a result of it’s behavior to be in as a runner to complete effectively.”