A female Division 1 track athlete beat a man who had “refused to believe” he could be defeated in a race against a woman.
Alahna Sabbakhan, a student from the University of Virginia, raced a friend of her boyfriend’s after he claimed he could win against her in the 400-meter race, she explained in a TikTok video shared Dec. 17 and has garnered more than one million likes.
“I am a D1 track athlete, let me tell y’all about this one time I, for some reason, raced my boyfriend’s friend over 400 meters,” Sabbakhan explained in her video. “He refused to believe that a woman could beat him in a race.”
In an interview with Today, Sabbakhan said when she first found out that her boyfriend’s friend believed he could beat her, she thought it was “ridiculous.” Sabbakhan kept that mindset, along with feeling relaxed and confident, something that has taken her time to develop.
Sabbakhan revealed that while the race had taken place in January 2023, she had been looking through videos and thought it would be good to post to her growing TikTok page with 13,100 followers.
@lahnazak Just to clarify, I did NOT want to race this man? I was already at the track with my bf doing a work out and he came to join. ##trackandfield##running ♬ Diamondz n Roses – VaporGod
Sabbakhan continues to explain the guy did not run, but still challenged her to run 400 meters.
“I only agreed because I was doing a 400 workout already,” Sabbakhan explains in her video. “So, I was like, ‘sure.’ Then he ended up bringing both his parents, his family, his friends.”
At the start of the race, Sabbakhan reveals that she “ran the first 200 with him” and was “not exerting” herself. After the first 200 meters, she picked up her pace and finished her race “hard.”
Sabbakhan, who primarily competes in the 800-meter race ended up finishing the 400-meter race against her boyfriend’s friend in 57 seconds, a time which is “pretty good” at practice.
Some of Sabbakhan’s times for the 400-meter race range from 54 seconds to 56 seconds.
“Coaches tell me racing other people is just kind of ridiculous because we don’t really have anything to prove,” Sabbakhan told the outlet. “We’ve already earned this status for a reason. I just feel like I don’t have anything to prove.”
When giving out advice for athletes trying to build up their confidence in their own abilities, Sabbakhan suggested, “Focus on your journey and your progress and where you used to be and where you want to be.”
“It’s just going to waste your time and drain your energy to be focused on everyone else,” Sabbakhan added.