Bolt crushed the field! People were expecting Merritt to go under 20.00 in good conditions.
The WR must be in trouble soon. PJ says it was pissing rain and the average time for the field was .5 off
Horrid conditions, i’m glad i cancelled my tickets for Lausanne yesterday. No video available yet, but you can get an idea of the rain on these pics http://www.daylife.com/search?q=Usain+Bolt
Bolt is running in 10 days time in Paris. Watch for a crazy time at 100m, even if it’s not the fastest track (record by Powell 9.85)
See why the field ran about 0.5 slower than their current level? At the end of the bend, Bolt checked twice on his left but obviously didn’t saw Merritt, so he just let it go in the homestretch…
I just talked to a coach friend who was at the meet. Apparently the air temp was warm but then a storm came through and the rain itself was very cold and reduced the air temp to what she thought was about 18C. Some of the early events were held in dry conditions, others like the second (A-heat) of the women’s 100 hurdles on a wet track but it wasn’t raining any more. Then there was Bolt who copped the worst of it. What a run, intrinsically perhaps the best ever? It would not have been easy warming up or staying warm in such conditions and being pelted by the strength of downpour, visible in the picture link PJ highlighted, must have been distracting at best.
I didn’t think it was possible to go sub-19. But after seeing that run, in those conditions - why not?
After Beijing, I was thinking, “He should have run hard through the line in the 100m, because he may not be in this kind of shape again under these conditions (or, he will get hurt, or start a singing career, etc.)”. But, it looks like he has more than enough left in the tank to keep bringing these times down. Just don’t let him drive fast cars.
You thinkin what I’m thinkin? Sub 19 soon if he stays in one piece?
I have been waiting patiently for his first sub 19 for more then 4 yrs now, so yep I would like to sign up first He can go sub 19 and it is just a matter of time.
They will make sure the surface is fast for a WC so I expect it is only a matter of the weather cooperating- which can be an issue in Berlin at times but often (except whenever we ran there!) there is a tailwind. (There even was a tailwind in the 100m at the 1936 Olympics)