Trey Cunningham Is Breaking Records On & Off The Track

28-year-old track phenom Trey Cunningham is hurdling into the spotlight, bringing more much-needed gay representation into the sports world as one of the only out athletes competing at his level. 

Two years since first coming out in a New York Times profile back in 2024, Cunningham has really hit his stride. So far, 2026 has been a banner year for the Alabama native, who joined an elite crop of athletes fast enough to complete the 110m hurdles in under 13 seconds while competing at the Golden Gala Diamond League meeting in Rome back in June. 

Not only did he best his own personal record with that sub-13 performance, but one held at the event for 27 years by the great Allen Johnson since 1999. 

And did we also mention he’s hot? Not only have his good looks sparked his nickname as track’s “Lover Boy,” but they also landed him a contract with Ford Models. 

So.Gay’s Brian Particelli recently spoke with Cunningham about his recent successes, how life has been for him since coming out, and what the future holds as he runs towards his next chapter. 

So.Gay: Thank you for speaking with me today. I saw the photos that you took — they came out great! I know you’re no stranger to modeling, but just what was that experience like for you and for doing it for a queer publication like So.Gay?

Trey Cunningham: I mean, it’s a little bit different than what I’ve done, actually. Most of my stuff is kind of more serious, not as fun-looking, I would say. We got to play around with this one a little bit.

So.Gay: How do you feel about being dubbed track’s “Lover Boy”? It’s a nickname I’ve seen pop up a few times now. What does some of that playful objectification and social media commentary that comes with it mean to you?

Trey Cunningham: Someone has to be the ‘Lover Boy.’ Why not me? I’ll take it. You know, I think the sport needs something besides just the times and our name on our bib. That’s how a lot of people see it. And so, if this is pushing the sport forward, I’m happy to be ‘Lover boy,’ whatever I need to be.

So.Gay: Good answer. And I know you recently had your personal best for the hurdles in Rome back in June. Congratulations on that. What did that accomplishment mean to you? I know you also beat a 27 -year record in the process, so that’s just incredible.

Trey Cunningham: I can put it into perspective. I don’t know how much you know about track or how familiar you are with track, but going under 13 seconds is kind of like a legendary benchmark, per se. So, it’s kind of awesome to join that group of people that have done it. I mean, there’s only been, I think, 34 people now in human history that have ever done it. And to do it as a season opener, that was pretty awesome. And to take down the legendary Allen Johnson, I mean, that’s always a fun thing to do. Records are meant to be broken, but it stood for a while, because Rome is a pretty early meet, and I don’t think anyone had ever gone that fast.

So.Gay: And just what does that do for you going forward? Are you now trying to always beat that time again? 

Trey Cunningham: Yeah, unfortunately, I am someone who always likes to push the envelope. I would say I am happy with the result, but I’m never truly satisfied. I was like, ‘Oh, I could have gone faster. I could have done this differently.’ And I think that’s a testament to me as a competitor. I love to compete. So I’m always okay if I get the win. It doesn’t matter how slow the win is, I’ll take the win. But if it’s a really fast time, I’m excited, we’re happy, we’re celebrating, and then we’re getting on the track probably two weeks later to do it again.

So.Gay: Just go, go, go! I know you’ve talked about experiencing burnout in the past, and even wrote a thesis about it. How do you avoid falling into that trap? When you have these recent highs, that must help, but then what do you do on those days where you do feel a little off?

Trey Cunningham: You know, my research was more so with, like, does personality predict burnout? It does, but to an extent. It wasn’t as big as I thought it was gonna be. And a lot of other things play into that, and I’m lucky enough that I’ve got a support system that I really trust, and I have a coach that I absolutely adore, and think that he’s pushing me in the right direction. I think most of the burnout is from just this culmination of, like, there’s too much demand. 

It’s really just an overload of the system, there’s too much life stuff happening all at once. 

Maybe you’re not an individual outside of your sport, so the sport’s all-consuming. There’s a lot of factors involved. 

So I think I was a little overworked, trying to figure out who I was, what is my identity. And I feel like most of my identity was taken up by track. I didn’t, at the time, think anything else was important. But as I was getting older, we’re changing, I had to find out other things about myself.

So.Gay: It’s always big news when an athlete comes out as gay, just because there is such a lack of representation in the sports world in general. With your coming out in 2024, what did that mean to you at the time, and were there concerns beforehand, or were you just ready to go?

Trey Cunningham: Of course I was concerned. I don’t think anyone has done it in my sport at the time that was actively participating at this level. There’s always the ‘What if?’ There’s always that question in the back of your head, and for something like being gay in a place where I grew up, that ‘What if?’ was a little bit louder, because I was told, “This is not okay,’ my whole life.

So that fear of the unknown was my only issue. But I did it because I didn’t want any other kid to be like me and have to worry about, ‘What if? Am I gonna be okay?’ Yeah, it’ll be okay.

So.Gay: And once your coming out did go live, just what was the immediate reaction?

Trey Cunningham: I was so nervous. I was actually on the plane to Budapest when it went live and I landed, and my agent sent me, ‘Hey, the article’s out.’ I just remember being in full body shock, flushed, didn’t really know what it was gonna say, didn’t know what the reception was gonna be of it, and it took me forever to read it.

I think it took me 2 or 3 hours to read it. I finally just opened it. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m reading it.’ I told [my agent], I was like, ‘Hey, I haven’t read it yet.’ And he’s like, ‘You should. It’s very well done. It’s in your voice. It’s a beautiful story.’ So, I finally read it, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really, really good.’ So yeah, that was the initial initial reaction.

So.Gay: You just mentioned that you kind of want to be the role model that you didn’t have yourself. Have you had any meaningful interactions with the younger generation since coming out? What has the reception been like that you’ve seen?

Trey Cunningham: You know, the younger kids really don’t care if I’m gay. They’re like, ‘Oh, cool, okay.’ It was more so the people I was not expecting to support me. I had a lot of people reach out from where I’m from. They’re like, ‘You don’t know what this means to all these people in this community, just to see someone like you, that’s able to just stand on his two feet and just say, ‘Hey, this is me, I’m from here, and that’s it.’’ 

I think it means a lot more to some of the older gay people that follow track and field, that are sports fans. Just simply because, even for me growing up, there weren’t any openly gay athletes. And I watched this era of people being able to be out and just live their lives. They don’t even have to come out, basically, anymore if they don’t want to. They can just go out to dinner with her boyfriend and move on with life  And so I think it’s more of a big deal for the older fans and the people that follow the sport.