SHANGHAI, China (CMC) - American double-crown champion Justin Gatlin has set his sights on breaking Jamaican Asafa Powell’s 100 metres world record next year.
Gatlin (right) and Powell in a race earlier this year
Gatlin is already predicting a thrilling season next year with some of the top athletes expected back in the starting blocks, after injury ended a few campaigns prematurely.
One of those campaigns was that of the 22 year-old Powell. who failed to recover from a groin injury, after raising quite a few eyebrows when he reset American Tim Montgomery’s world record in Athens in June.
"We didn’t have Shawn Crawford this year, Maurice Green wasn’t at his best and Asafa (Powell) also ran into troubles in the thick of the season.
Hopefully, they will all get well next year and make the competitions interesting," Gatlin said.
And with the possible return of the top guns Gatlin made it clear who was going to break the world record.
“I would say it’s going to be me,” Gatlin ventured.
Gatlin’s next assignment this season will be at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix where he said if he gets it right, Powell’s 9.77 seconds could be in jeopardy.
“I will try for a new mark in the remaining races this season,” said Gatlin. “If I don’t get it this year, then it is definitely happening next year.”
So far this season, Gatlin has clocked 9.88 seconds, which produced a gold-medal winning performance in Helsinki.
The American sprinter also timed 9.85 seconds at the Athens Olympic Games last year.
Is Justin running fast because of talent or because of a quality training program by Trevor? If in combination what percent? 50/50? 90/10?
I think the confidence in Trevor is not high with many for some reason.
My observations in NC for when I would fly down their to personally work with an athlete trying to break 10.0 left me confused on the construction of Trevor’s program.
I have never produced a sub ten athlete and only worked with guys 10.08-10.3 so my own knowledge and age point limit my own criticism.
Could you expand on this?
At least Justin’s program was good enough FOR HIM to win Olympics and Worlds. As for the WR, the US Nationals and World Champs, where Justin peaked, were held in poor conditions, give him fast track + favourable conditions and he can run 9.7.
Justin has more than enough talent. I don’t see how anyone could question that. It does take the right training to run those times though. Maybe he has it there and maybe he doesn’t. I thought he ran a hell of a race at the World Champs. It’s there, but will we see it is the question. On the same note, I feel that Asafa can run faster if he stays healthy. He could probably work on some periodization as well.
I just think that Asafa might have a bit too much talent.
I completely agree that Gatlin can go under 9.8 - good conditions, some decent competition and it will happen but I tend to think that Powell is going to run MUCH faster in the future.
I’m not usually one for speculation, but Powell is a different story. Personally, I don’t think the 9.77 was his best race. Fastest time yes, but best race, maybe not.
i can see asafa running faster than his current mark, but NOT world champs or next olympics, and he will not be lasting that long in that high range of times, and he will be getting series of injuries and i think because of that his times will slowly come down. Look at usain bolt, two years ago we thought michael johonson’s record was going down! he was injured last year and missed the olympics, AND this year in the finals!
can you expand on this pierrejean? Its just that I’ve heard Kim Collins saying in the UK magazine Athletics Weekly that he thinks running world records is not good for the body and will result in injuries, I was unsure if he meant the intensity of training required to reach those standards, or any “other” assistance.
Whichever way you look at it running world record times is going to be “dangerous” but what are you supposed to do as an alternative? If you don’t do it someone else will.
10s flat is about 98% for Asaf when he is fit so 10.3 is 95%. He’s going to find 10.3 easy. Perhaps Kim Collins means that going out every race and trying to run a world record isn’t such a good idea… which indirectly could mean he is simply saying that Asafa must be careful not to over race? I guess this goes for anyone who is running fast times and is therfore prone to injury.
The faster you run, the closer you are from human’s body limits (since speed is specific to itself). Same thing can be applied to any event, Javier Sotomayor’s coach once said that 2.50m at High Jump are possible, but which ankle can support the incredible load at take-off required to reach that performance.
In Helsinki, during warm-up, Menendez threw 65m, effortless, with 3 steps run-up. I told to my neighbors the WR is gone in few minutes. First throw by Menendez 71.70, new WR. But if you look at her 5 other attempts : pass, foul, pass, 65.53, 63.80, foul. It was not possible to duplicate her WR performance because her arm loaded so much. In the same way, don’t be surprised if you run 100m WR level (or near) and then get injured.
i agree PJ but you got to allow for adaquate recovery whether its days or weeks.also i think sometimes the athlete tries to push an effort resulting in injury.
menendez threw the WR with ease but with the ease feeling i think lead her to believe that if she could throw that distance so easily then how far could she throw with effort…
I’m not saying that Menendez did 71.70 with ease, it was her 65m with 3 steps run up which was easy. Then, after her WR throw, she struggled to throw over 65m.
I agree about the recovery time needed after a WR performance.
As Charlie has pointed in one of his writings, I think, when a PB, or a WR in this case is achieved, then you are entering a new territory and you have to be extra careful and adjust accordingly. You should not assume anything, but wait and see before acting. Perhaps Asafa didn’t do this this season to the right degree…
Thoughts?
