On Sep. 9th in Rieti, Italy Astafa Powell set a new world record in the Mens 100m sprint. The new record time is 9.74; three hundredths of a second faster then the previous record — also set by Powell. Three hundredths is the largest jump since Maurice Green lowered the mark by five hundredths in 1999. I wonder if we’ll get a run with an average speed above 23MPH in the run up for or at the olympic games.
Powell has been something of an enigma lately, having lost a much publicized meeting against American Justin Gay (9.84) at the World Championships in late August. A few days later, Powell admitted giving up
when he realized he wasn’t in contention for a Gold medal. Powell’s admission prompted the following quote from Michael Johnson — a guy who knows a thing or two about winning world championships:
Asafa Powell is a great talent but he’s not a great competitor, you can see it in his eyes. He can learn to be a great competitor, but first you have to admit that you’re not.
As a competitor, even though it looks like it may be over, you don’t give up until it’s completely done and I’ve never seen a world record holder drop his head and give up in a major final.
That should have been a silver he won, but he didn’t, he got a bronze.
Interestingly, Gay pulled out of the Golden League meeting citing fatigue. While these things happen, it’s a little disappointing from a competitive standpoint. I suppose another consideration in additional meeting between the two is that world records are rarely executed in the most competitive fields — at least in the longer distances. Once the quality of the field passes some point, most of the racers start thinking tactically about the race.
As an aside, just a bit more then a year ago, I wrote an article titled 8.94774517
which suggested that an average above 23MPH — a time of 9.7258 or less — should happen sometime around 2020. If Powell keeps running like he has recently, that time should fall before the start of the games in Beijing. On the other hand, I don’t think the games will provide the kind of spectacular times we’ve seen in the past.
If it doesn’t happen before the start of the 2008 games, it may not happen for another quadrennial. So if not in 2007, it will probably not be threatened again until around 2010.
Here are some reference links — in no particular order:
- Gay pulls out of Powell showdown (BBC Sports)
- Powell admits to conceding silver (BBC Sports)
- Powell blows away Brussels field (BBC Sports)
- Gay destroys Powell to win world 100m title (Reuters)
- Faster and stronger, but for how long? (BBC Sports)
- Powell smashes 100m world record
Tags: Asafa Powell, Justin Gay, Maurice Green, Mens 100m, Michael Johnson, Running, Running Speed, Track and Field, World Record
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