Yes, but i’m sure he’ll be itching to run the relay. Hopefully, they’ll put him on anchor if he runs as that would stress the groin the least (curve going out is more gentle and at the slowest speed while pass on second to third is dangerous and the curve legs are out of the question.)
I don’t think he could hold up through the rounds. Why take the chance. He isn’t avoiding anyone!
Even though Tyson clocked 9.71, I thought he eased up a little at the end, he wasn’t about to catch Bolt obviously. Clearly he’s got 9.6’s in his future if he gets healthy.
He certainly thought so coming into Berlin and said as much. he didn’t reckon on how much faster Bolt had gotten since Beijing
Charlie, how much better do you think Tyson’s start and acceleration can get? He does not seem to get much extension with his lead hand in the start and the elbow is held in. Does he possess the talent to at least close some of Bolt’s present gap on him with improved mechanics and when healthy? I believe so.
I think powell is the biggest threat to bolt and the only guy that can beat him, especially that he is becomming more relaxed and having fun. I wouldnt sleep on powell he might not be runnnig 9.7’s now but it wouldnt surprise me if he just dropped a 9.6 low out of nowhere
I think Tyson has shown he can go in the 9.60s so he can improve and we don’t really know how much his winter injury which kept him in germany for several months, cost him. The problem is Bolt can improve too, as both have been dropping their times but Bolt by more and he’s younger.
Asafa can get into the 9.60s but he needs to be healthy.
As far as I know, the surgery done on his pec last year left the ROM there lower and the lack of compensatory counter-rotation might have contributed to his ankle problem but I don’t know that for sure. One of the ART guys from Toronto was in Jamaica working on him in the spring but I don’t have all the details.
Do you think his initial race can be improved as this is part of what seems to hurt him? His back even seems a bit rounded in the first 5-10m.
Agreed that no doubt Bolt can still improve as well as he certainly won’t be sitting around waiting on TG to close the gap.
I don’t think many expected now Gay to win anyway, so what’s the point of avoiding Bolt? A very mature decision re: the 200 m in order to protect himself in my opinion!
Charlie, do you think we could well be seeing the two greatest sprinters of all time in Bolt and Gay?
Comments like this still manage to suprise me.
If Powell drops a 9.6 it won’t be out of nowhere becasue he has a 9.72 already. he needs to recover from all the trauma this season so far and that might take some time
there are three right now. Don’t forget Powell!
It amazes me how everyone forgets about the former wr holder, the only guy to run more sub 10’s then mo, the first guy to dip well below 9.8, The only guy to beat bolt since he first got the WR. Even my partners forgot about asafa. I think he hit 9.6 before gay.
It’s so hard to distinguish between fastest (right now), most dominant, “greatest”, most talented, etc etc
Bolt’s got a bunch of wins right now, but because of his youth doesn’t have as many as Mo Greene.
Tyson and Powell have incredible times but, except Tyson’s 100 and 200 in 2007, not the major individual golds.
What sets Bolt apart for a lot of people is that his times are so far ahead of his time - the record is now, what, almost two-tenths ahead of what it was before he went after it? - and he just wins whatever race he is in.
The time reduction is really amazing. In the 90s we were seeing .01 getting chopped off every 3 years, in the 80s it was an even slower reduction (minus Ben, addressed below), and basically static in the 70s.
Instead of the reduction of the WR slowing as time goes on, as might be expected if we were truly approaching some “Human Limit” (whatever that means) - I remember reading in a WR book the possibility that the 2000s would require official thousandth-timing to lower the WR and predicted the 2015 WR as 9.79 - we are seeing big pieces of time getting lopped off by a few key guys.
Ben took the WR from 9.93 to 9.83 and then to 9.79. His margin of improvement over the previous record would have been as much or more than Bolt’s if he had run through the line in Seoul. Whatever you think of that, read Speed Trap and then reassess.
Carl didn’t have the WR-improvement (in the same manner as Bolt, Ben, or even Powell) but he had sustained success. So what does that count towards?
Who we put in what categories depends on our pre-conditions for those categories, not something in the athletes themselves.
Comparing Mennea to Bolt to Morrow to Owens to Carl to Ben etc. only makes sense if we have some sort of clear idea of WHAT we’re comparing.
good points- hard to assess. Where does Bob Hayes fit into the equation?
I can’t image that athletes like Lewis, Smith (the stars of 80’) would barely fight for medals… and be beaten by Bailey, Thompso…
I’d say way up there, but I reckon if he was running against Bolt at his peak, he would have been blown away like everyone else.
A guy who ran 9.91wa on dirt in SF and 10.05 legal final in a chewed up lane one must be good for several tenths faster on today’s surfaces. Those with the most power likely gain the most.
And maybe Bob could also consider some of today’s training !!To me he was scary…consider that Armin hary had the same 10.0 world record manual, but BOB had 10"06, and Hary 10"26 or more, do not remember, as electric reading…