With less than a month to go until the new Netflix Sport series ‘SPRINT’ hits TV screens around the world, some of the stars of the show, along with other key figures in the sport, attended an exclusive pre-screening at the Nasdaq Building in New York on Friday (7).
The series will be released on Netflix on 2 July, but the official trailer went live earlier this week and was beamed across giant screens in New York’s Times Square ahead of last night’s screening.
Attendees at the screening were shown the first and fifth episodes and shared their thoughts afterwards.
World 100m, 200m and 4x100m champion Noah Lyles, one of the stars of the show:
“I’m excited to see how everyone else’s World Championships went. I can only see so much from my angle. I love to see the whole picture come together; I love to see the moment made. I’ve seen what they’ve done for other sports, and I’m a huge fan of Drive To Survive, I’ve watched Break Point, and I believe this is going to be their best one.
“Everybody who’s seen it so far has said that I’m going to enjoy it, so I’d like to believe that I’ve come out of this okay.”
USA’s 2012 Olympic 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross:
“Our sport is in such a great place with such great champions, so it’s the perfect time for a series like this. The characters are over the top, they’re intriguing and compelling. I think this series is going to do so well and do so much for our sport.
“I would have loved to have been in a series like this when I was an athlete. Like Noah and Sha’Carri, I always wanted to push the sport forward. I’ve also done a lot of reality TV, so it would have been right up my alley. But the timing is right for this to happen now, so I’m really excited for them.
“The series is so rich. What makes our sport so unique is that, unlike many other sports, it’s global. It’s incredible to see the length and breadth of our sport.”
Executive producer Paul Martin of Box2Box:
“We’re incredibly grateful to go into these worlds. Whenever we do these shows, we see it as a privilege to be allowed on the inside, and to have people like Noah let us in as they do. I’m excited; there’s something about this world and these athletes. The making of this show felt different – we really wanted to go above and beyond to make the best version we could. This one, there was something about wanting to get it right and doing justice to the sport and what the athletes put themselves through. This one was really special and I’m so glad it will go out there on 2 July and people will see it. Hopefully it does the job of reigniting everyone’s passion for athletics and sprinting.”
• Selection of images for media
Credit ‘© Sam Su / Kevin Morris for World Athletics’ (see image file for photographer name)
