received this in email… the article was written by aussie coach matt barber…
Who is the Fastest Men in the World?
Sunday, 21 May 2006
Track & Field has not seen such a public clash of egos, since Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis stepped on the track at 1988 Olympic Final where Ben Smashed the World record with his Drug aided 9.78sec.
Justin Gatlin USA 9.77sec v Asafa Powell Jamaica 9.77sec
Well this year we have at least 2 runners with real claim to the title of the World’s Fastest Man. And to cloud the perception a little more, the IAAF yesterday adjusted USA powerhouse Justin Gatlin’s Doha Grand Prix 100m winning time from 9.76 sec to 9.77sec. 9.77sec now only equals Jamaican Asafa Powell’s World Record.
When it was initially announced that Gatlin ran 9.76sec, Powell came back strongly, stating he was in better shape than ever and could go 9.60sec if that’s what it will take to beat Gatlin.
Gatlin v Powell 28th of May at the Pre Classic! Well maybe not quite?
We have a farcical but understandable situation, in that both Powell and Gatlin will be racing over 100m, as confirmed earlier this year, at the time honored Pre Classic meet at Hayward field in Oregon USA on the 28th of May.
However they won’t be racing against each other as negotiations go on, with European meet promoters bidding against each other for the status of staging this clash and providing cash incentives which the US meets can’t match.
So Powell will run in one division of the 100m while Gatlin will race in the next and the runner with the fastest time of the two races will be paid out as a winner.
Pre Classic meet director Tom Jordan said
“They won’t run at the same time, but in separate sections of the 100, with the clockings from the two races combined to determine an overall winner.
“Ideally, you would like to have them in the same race but that is not going to happen. This, however, is the next best thing. We’ll get to see them at their specialty and running for the same money.”
“There is too much money on the line in Europe to in effect have them run for free at the Prefontaine Classic,” Jordan said.
Who will emerge the Fastest Man in the World at the end of 2006?
Well Gatlin is a real Power House and can probably boast the best 100m sprint technique of all time.
He is an interesting case as he nearly missed his College scholarship as he was primarily a Hurdler at High School, with a personal best 100m of only 10.75sec and College recruiters felt he was a bit slow to make their sprint Relay team.
But he did get better over his 3 years at College, winning some big meets in his last year at College after dropping the Hurdles to specialise on Sprinting. In his final College year, Gatlin also graduated to the top echelon of world sprinters.
In his first IAAF championship, Gatlin won the 2003 Birmingham World Indoor Championship 60m in a very quick 6.46sec. In this race, he showed how tough he could be in a championship environment and just how dynamic he was off the starting blocks.
In 2004, Gatlin went on to upstage favourites, former World Record Holder Maurice Greene of the USA and fellow newcomer, Jamaican Asafa Powell, to win the Athens Olympics.
Gatlin again utilized his trademark flying start to get in front over the first 50m to win another tight 100m Championship race leaving Powell a meter behind.
Athens 100m Olympic Final Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 23:10
Wind: 0.6 m/s
Pos
Lane
Athlete
Country
Mark
React
1
3
Gatlin Justin
USA
9.85
(PB)
0.188
2
5
Obikwelu Francis
POR
9.86
(AR)
0.163
3
7
Greene Maurice
USA
9.87
(SB)
0.151
4
4
Crawford Shawn
USA
9.89
0.161
5
6
Powell Asafa
JAM
9.94
0.166
The 2005 Helsinki World Championships saw a major disappointment as Asafa Powell broke down shortly after setting his World Record and was unable to run.
However this did nothing to diminish the phenomenal Justin Gatlin Championship record as he absolutely smashed rivals, winning in 9.88sec with 2nd placed Jamaican Michael Frater coming in nearly 2m back in 10.05sec.
This run was argued to be the fastest ever seen, considering the inhospitable cold wet conditions on offer in Finland’s capital city.
But in 2006 Powell has shown he is back running in great shape. He is a freakish tall sprinter with amazing flying speed. Powell really does look capable of making good his promise to run 9.60sec for a 100m.
Those who saw him absolutely walk down the track to win the Commonwealth Games Gold medal over young Nigerian star Olusoji Fasuba by under a meter.
Who will Emerge as the Worlds Fastest Man in 2006
Aasfa Powell is a little ungainly in his action with some upper body rotation and these small imperfections probably contributed towards his hamstring injury last year. Powell will almost certainly concede up to a meter to Gatlin in the first 50m but he really lets go over the last half of the race.
Powell takes an average of 42 strides to run 100m compared to Gatlin’s 44 so once again he has a distinct mechanical advantage over his US rival once they are up an running over the last half of the race.
But Gatlin is tough puts the whole race together when it counts and is one tough hombre. He will put enormous pressure on the tall Jamaican and will be very hard to run down.
There are a couple of other possible contenders in the mix.
Lennard Scott of the USA may be the sleeper. A week before the Commonwealth Games was run, Scott took out the 2006 World Indoor Champs in 6.50sec, beating Ousoji Fasuba 6.58sec by 0.08sec or just under 1.00m.
This is the exact margin Gatlin had to spare when beating Fasuba in the Doha Grand Prix last week. There he equalled Powell’s record with 9.77sec Fasuba ran 9.85sec in 2nd place.
So drawing a line through Fasuba, it is possible that Lennard Scott, a training partner of Maurice Greene World Record Holder and multiple Championship winner, is closer to the two World Record Holders than they might realise.
Although Scott only has a persona best of 9.94sec, his World Indoor win indicates he could get into the low 9.80sec range
My predictions
1 Justin Gatlin 9.69
2 Asafa Powell 9.72
3 Lennard Scott 9.78
4 Olusoji Fasuba 9.80
Matt Barber
