Monday, August 17, 2009

World's Fastest Human (Still)

Tyson Gay set an American record in the 100 meters, and practically didn't appear in the finish-line photo.

Gay's 9.71 eclipses his own US record by .06, which is a pretty big slice of time in track and field's quickest event. He thus leaves Carl Lewis, Jimmy Hines, Bob Hayes and the rest even farther in the rearview mirror.

But no matter what Tyson Gay does, he has the bad luck to be running in the shadow of Usain Bolt. The big, brash Jamaican blew up his own world record, running a 9.58 and then saying he thinks he can get into the 9.4 range.

Sprinters are notoriously cocky, but Bolt's in a league of his own. Don't forget: the world record he just broke was his own, set at the Beijing Olympics when Bolt mugged for the cameras over the last 10 meters.

A 9.4 100 meters? Preposterous. But so is Usain Bolt. Don't bet against him.

2 comments:

ED said...

Gay's 3rd fastest time ever just became part of Usain Bolt's highlight reel.

Stan Bunger said...

UPDATE:

Bolt does it again, breaking own 200m WR as well. 19.19. Sick. His gap over 2nd place finisher Alonso Edward was .62, which is, in sprinter time, about equal to a half-hour in normal human time.