It looked like Bolt was ahead at the first foot touchdown and went on with it from there.
I wonder if I’ll ever see another 100m world record? If Bolt goes down (to injury, disinterest, whatever) there is nobody around at the moment who appears capable of even dreaming 9.58.
Before this race I think Tokyo world championships in 1991 was the greatest men’s 100m final for depth across the track. The first two guys in Tokyo bettered the world record (Lewis and Leroy Burrell) and took the first steps under 9.90. Also I think the first five or six guys went sub-10.
What will this performance do to light up these 12th world championships! I hope everyone in Berlin is stoked and they can fulfil their own potential.
With a performance like the men’s 100 WR thank heavens there is a biomechanics study in place. I’m sure they won’t stuff it up like the American did in Atlanta '96.
Gay looked filthy with himself, sputtering “f… it” etc. Not sure what he was so annoyed about. I doubt it was about losing the race but rather something related to his own performance. But 9.71 is phenomenal - second fastest of all time, ahead even of Asafa’s 9.72 at the end of last season.
This was Asafa’s second major medal. He also took bronze at Osaka 2007 but this was a more self-assured performance. Given his ankle problem which probably only finally came good within the last fortnight, he looks to have much more to bring.
The threat to dump Asafa from the meet by the JAAA may have given Powell something to focus his mind to some degree - to prove the bastards wrong etc etc, but he doesn’t really seem the kind of person to fuel on hate.
Now the dust is starting to settle on the men’s 100m, what of our Nigerian friend Olu Fasuba’s decision to walk out on coach (and forum member) Pierre-Jean Vazel in search of greener pastures in Portugal or Spain or wherevere with whomever? A first round loser in Berlin whereas he was fourth in the final in Osaka. Smart move. Sorry but by his deceptive and ungrateful behaviour, I think Olusoji got what he deserved.
Or maybe it was the realization that he would never be a world record holder.
I do think he came to Berlin to defend his title(s), though, and given his performances this season, I don’t think this was a utopian goal. Sub 9.7 was certainly within his reach, and no-one knew that Bolt would run sub 9.6.
Yeah, I was wondering what got Gay so tight. That is unsportsmanlike of him to do something like that.
As for Powell, the guy seems as if he has lightened up and took a page from Bolt’s book and taking things lightly. Haha I enjoyed his intro and how he was dancing with Bolt in the end.
I am rewieving again the vid… if I was wrong that would be .81 and .82 on 50 to 60 and 60 to 70 instead 10m earlier. Tonight he was amazing in these phases…
You predicted 3.67 (1.8+1.03+.84) for 30m and 6.15 for 60m. In Beijing he ran 3.78 on what is supposed to be a harder track, so I don’t see him making all of his improvement in that portion.
I imagine it was probably more like 3.75-3.76 for 30m with improvements throughout (especially at the end with him running through the line).
I thought Powell and Gay run awesome. I actually thought Bolt didn’t appear as sharp as he did in OG last year. Great time and all but seemed not as easy as the OG final.
Congratulations to Powell and Gay, both tried and kept it together.
In the 1 minute post-race interview on American TV the interviewer asked Gay “you pounded your fist on your thigh after the race, were you disappointed?” Gay responded “I can run that fast, it just didn’t happen”. He also said he was happy with his time and thought Bolt was phenomenal.
It sounds like he believes he has more in him. With the injuries the past two years and the still great times he’s posted I can very well see why he believes he hasn’t maxed out.
Yes their finishes seemed kind of similar at first glance. Bolt seperated from Gay in the middle of the race but from then on until the end, though they both continued to move away from everyone else, they looked to be the same distance apart from each other.
It’s as if History itself has condemned Tyson Gay. I know that’s something you can say about anyone who is #2 but this seems to be a rather unique case.
Gay is not to Bolt as Bolden was to Greene.
Greene had great breadth in the sense that a wide swathe of times that were all spectacular. His consistency at hitting these high marks made him special - and Boldon’s ability to be nearly there consistently (but not always quite there) made him a remarkable number 2.
But Bolt has breadth and a depth that seems to increase daily.
Gay toils - through his inglorious exit in Beijing, through injuries, past the fawning media coverage of a guy who commits the sacrilege, the pure blasphemy, of treating the 100 meters as something less than the sacred crucible it is - and transforms himself into the man capable of running the times Bolt did in Beijing, the times heretofore deemed impossible, and, fighting again through skepticism surrounding his performance in the preliminaries, puts together a fantastic race, a race that would, should, beat anyone ever
except Bolt.
9.84
9.79
9.77
9.74
9.69
9.58
Is that the progression? In the last TEN years?
This was bigger than Beamon’s jump. This was bigger than 10.49.
It was certainly foreseeable from his performance in 2008
but the reality was more impressive than whatever far-fetched daydreaming we have done since then. It was solid here, something with weight.
“beauty is momentary in the mind, the fitful tracing of a portal. But in the flesh it is immortal.”
When he ran 19.59 this year he beat Merritt, who was second, by 0.8 seconds. Merritt was expected to run in the 19’s, but ended up running something like 0.5 seconds slower or something because of the terrible weather. Bolt is in better condition right now than he was then, so he will very likely be able to go under 19.25.
I remember back in '88, a month before Seoul, when an American magazine printed an article on future athletic predictions. (I forgot the name of the magazine but there was a photo of FloJo on the cover, wearing a yellow ensemble) The team predicted a 9.58 for the men’s 100m. It would require someone to optimally combine the best of stride length and stride frequency factors to attain this time. What I don’t remember is whether the forecast was meant for a specific year or if it was an absolute final time.
