Bassitt excited for fresh start after outstanding season on the track

After a successful 2022 campaign on the track, Trevor Bassitt is hungry for more.

The talented hurdler had a monster year on the track that saw him win a World Championship bronze medal in the 400m hurdles, a gold medal as a member of the 4×400 relay, a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships and a national championship for Ashland University. 

While he wasn’t the favorite in only a handful of the bigger races that he competed in later in the season, Bassitt proved that when you line up against him, you’re in for a dog fight. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Something my old coach instilled in me early on was that when you show up at a big meet, you need to be hard as hell to beat,” he said. “That means you’re going to give them everything they can handle and they need to either run a lifetime best or break a meet record in order to beat you. And that’s something I’ve taken with me everytime I show up to a meet. Doesn’t matter if I’m racing someone at the D2 level, or racing Karsten Warholm at the World Championships. I’m looking at all of these other competitors like I’m going to be tough to beat. You’re not going to run 395, I’m going to make you run the full 400 meters to beat me.”

That mindset not only helped Bassitt attain the success that he earned, but it helped him through the extremely tough stretches of his season. Bassitt lost his coach, the legendary Jud Logan during his senior year at Ashland. Following the passing of coach Logan, the team’s sprint coach left the program, leaving Bassitt to train by himself. Bassitt admitted that this weighed on him mentally, especially heading into the USATF Outdoor Championships.

Despite the mental struggle that he endured, Bassitt said that he was not going to let the tough situation become an excuse for him to use, but instead, he was going to show up everyday, put in the work and make the best of it. 

“Now I look back on it and it’s like holy cow, how did I do that, how’d I get through that,” he said. “You’re in the moment, and in the moment you’re just like here’s the situation, you just have to make it work.”

In the three biggest championship meets of his season, Bassitt set a new personal best in the 400m hurdles while competing against the world’s best.

“I’ve always prided myself on the ability to show up on the biggest stages,” he said. “Which is why you look at World Outdoor Champs, lifetime PR. USA Champs Outdoors, lifetime PR. World Indoor Champs, lifetime PR. So I’m on a streak here, 3-for-3 here at major championships with a PR. Obviously, there’s a good chance that ends at some point, but I’m hopefully not planning on it.”

Now, Bassitt has the structure that he needs, as he’s made the move to Florida to train under the legendary coach Mike Holloway of the Florida Gators. The transition has been a good one for him so far, as he’s training with some of the best in the sport each and every day.

“So far, I really like it – I really like the group,” he said. “What went into the decision was really, I have a legendary coach now, considering last year there was a whole lot of things that were outside of my control and I ended up coaching myself from May onward. And I didn’t want to have to do that anymore. So I went from essentially coaching myself for the last three to five months of my season to having the best coach you can get out there. So that was a big part of it.

The other thing was when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I wanted a great training group. And I mean you look at the group down here, it’s impossible to not get better with a group like this. I’m showing up everyday to train alongside Grant Holloway, Champion Allison, Quincy Hall, Erryion Knighton, Joe Fanbuleh – those are just the sprinters and hurdlers on the track. They raise my level and I like to think I can help raise their level because if you’re not on it when you show up that day, you’re going to get exposed. Those are people with great experience, they’ve been there, done that, and we can all help each other.”

Bassitt believes that being at Florida has taught him how important having structure is. During the latter part of his season last year, he’d have to write his own workouts. Now that he’s training under coach Holloway, the mental strain that he faced has been lifted.

“It just takes a lot more of that mental burden off of it because I’m not having to worry about okay, let me write my workouts out for the next couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s no, I can go home, I can relax, foam roll, do what I gotta do because I know that my coach is taking care of me.”

While moving from Ohio where Bassitt is from, to Florida is a big change, it’s a welcome one for Bassitt, as he looks to continue to maximize his potential on the track and off the track. But there’s one thing about Ohio that Bassitt is thrilled to leave behind.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “I hate winter, it is my least favorite season. I don’t like the cold, I don’t like the snow, none of it. So if you’re trying to get away from those things, Florida’s a good place to be.”