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Spearmon blasts to 19.65 in Daegu to become the third quickest 200m runner all-time
Thursday 28 September 2006
World 200m silver medallist Wallace Spearmon has become the third fastest man in history, running the half lap in 19.65 seconds in front of a crowd of nearly 50,000 spectators at the Colorful 2006 Daegu Athletics Meeting, in Daegu, Korea, earlier today.
Spearmon who had reduced his 19.89 personal best (London, 22 July 05) at his last two meetings – 19.88 Stuttgart (10 Sep 06) and 19.87 (17 Sep 06) – when respectively coming second at the World Athletics Final and then taking victory at the World Cup, is now only headed on the all-time list by USA compatriots Michael Johnson (19.32 – World record, 1996) and Xavier Carter (19.63).
Significantly, the 21 year-old is now faster than another American Tyson Gay who stormed to a 19.68 win over Spearmon at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.
Considering that Carter’s 19.63 was also established this summer- in Lausanne on 11 July - the 2006 outdoor season has been a remarkable one for the men’s 200m, an event which had been languishing in relative sprinting obscurity since the retirement of Michael Johnson.
“I was just very happy to break my own record,” said Spearmon. “The crowd were very involved here and it has been a great day. I am really starting to run fast.”
Liu Xiang storms to win over Johnson
In the pre-meet publicity the most awaited clash of the meeting had been that at 110m Hurdles between China’s reigning Olympic champion and World record holder Liu Xiang, and America’s Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic winner and four-time World champion.
The race again did not disappoint, with the American starting far quicker and still leading with two hurdles to go just as had been the scenario in Shanghai last Saturday (23). Again in another storming finish Liu Xiang overtook his rival, who had beaten him to the World Cup title in Athens, to win by two hundredths of a second in a time of 13.14.
A fuller report of the meeting in Korea will follow later
Mirko Jalava and Chris Turner for the IAAF