Bolt can run 42 for 400m
Published: Tuesday | December 1, 2009
Anthony Foster, Gleaner Writer
Michael Johnson press Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus on Monday 30.11.2009. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.
American track & field legend, Michael Johnson, believes Usain Bolt is capable of adding the 400-metre world record to his glowing list of accomplishments.
Johnson, who is in the island for a BBC documentary with Bolt, believes the world record holder for the 100 and 200 metres “is good enough to run 42 seconds but … he will have to develop his strength-and-speed endurance.”
The man who dominated the track and set world records in the 200 and 400 metres in the 90s and early 2000s, said Bolt, who ran 9.58 and 19.19 seconds for the 100 and 200 metres world records, has the potential to add the 400m to his name.
And if he does, Johnson, who holds the mark at 43.18 seconds, said: “Nobody is ever going to hold the world record at 100, 200 and 400 metres again if he (Bolt) does it.”
Training significant
According to Johnson though, the 400m record is more difficult to break than the 100 and 200 marks.
“The training is going to be much more significant for the 400m than the 100 and 200 metres,” said Johnson.
“That natural ability and gift that he has, has helped him to be great at 100 and 200 metres, but at 400m that gift is still there and is still important. But the longer the distance, the less it becomes,” he added. “Training, endurance and most important speed-endurance becomes a more important factor.”
As to how faster Bolt can run in the 100 and 200 metres, Johnson, king of the track in his time, said: “I don’t know, I don’t think anyone knows, not even Usain knows. But most people would agree that he can run faster, but how much faster, no one knows.”
Flaws
Track and field legend, Michael Johnson of the United States, gesticulates while addressing the media during a press conference at the Pegasus hotel in Kingston yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.
Johnson also identified a few flaws which, he says, when fixed, things are going to be much better for track and field superstar, Bolt.
"The main thing I see is his technique. I think his technique can be improved, so when you think about that, and when you think about his technique at this point, that it has gotten better but is still not perfect, the fact that he is so young and he still has a lot more races that he can run and learn about the race, I think it just means there is no limit as to what he can do.
"His upper body, his arm movements, arm motion, is not as clean as athletes you compare him to. Some of the athletes in the past, these are the things when you are young you are going to learn as you continue to grow, and I think that speaks volumes for what his potential is and the fact that he can continue to go faster," he said, noting that such flaws are common in athletes 21 to 23 years old.