Gay’s London 100 His Best Yet?
While Tyson Gay has run faster than the world-leading 9.78 he racked up on Friday, it can be argued that he has never run any BETTER.
If one applies the altitude/wind charts found in Track & Field News magazine’s The Big Gold Book, one discovers that London’s 0.4 headwind makes Gay’s time a “basic” 9.76, which equals his best mark ever, equivalent to the 0.9 tailwind which changes his World Champs 9.71 to a 9.76.
The all-time list of adjusted marks is dominated by—surprise!—one Usain Bolt, whose actual World Record of 9.58 (+0.9 wind) translates to a 9.63. Bolt owns the three fastest converted times ever.
Overall, there have been 11 races all-time which converts to sub-9.8, including Gay’s actual American Record of 9.69, which had +2.0 aid. Those times:
Adjust………Actual
- 9.63……9.58……Usain Bolt (Berlin '09)
- 9.69……9.69……Bolt (Beijing '08)
- 9.70……9.77……Bolt (Brussels '08)
- 9.75……9.72……Asafa Powell (Lausanne '08)
=5. 9.76……9.83……Powell (Brussels '08)
=5. 9.76……9.71……Tyson Gay (Berlin '09)
=5. 9.76……9.78 ……Gay (London '10) - 9.78……9.79…… Bolt (Paris '09)
=9. 9.79……9.78……Powell (Rieti '07)
=9. 9.79……9.77……Gay (Rome '09)
=9. 9.79……9.69……Gay (Shanghai '09)