Jamaican super-sprinter Usain Bolt lowered his 100m & 200m world records set in Beijing, 9.69 & 19:30, by an identical 0.11 seconds, to 9.58 & 19.19 respectively, in last week's world championships in Berlin. Watch these 100m Berlin and 200m Berlin videos, plus this astonishing 150m video (an earlier special race, not in Berlin) in which Bolt timed at 14.36--faster than his 14.47 in Beijing for the first 150m of his Olympic 200m, and far faster than the 14.75 previous WR mark in this rare event--and done under wet conditions without a full warm-up! Note also his 5.64 50m & 9.90 100m rocket splits in the 150m race.
BTW, Bolt's 200m Berlin race was run into a slight headwind (0.3/m.sec.); his 100m WR was aided by a slight tailwind of 0.9m/sec., well under the maximum allowable 2.0/sec. His 0.11 jump in WR time for the 100m was the largest jump since electronic timing, permitting 100ths of a second to be tallied, was introduced in 1977. This Sydney Morning Herald column adds a neat 100m race nugget: Bolt looked over his shoulder.
All 3 races show beyond cavil that Bolt simply has an extra racing gear his rivals lack. He beat the second-place Berlin finisher, American Tyson Gay, by 0.13 sec. (Gay's time is a new US 100m record). Only injury or disqualification or extreme fatigue can beat him so long as he is at this level, unless someone new shows up. What is Bolt's potential? A generation ago I was a major track buff, so let me try to sort this out. A faster start could lead to a sub-9.50 100m--Bolt's reaction time in the 100m Berlin race was 0.146 sec This sounds fast until you realize that typical sprinter reaction time is 0.12 sec, & that 1960 Rome Olympic 100m gold medalist Armin Hary's reaction time was 0.04 sec. (Both figures come from author David Maraniss's fine Rome 1960 book.) Take Bolt's 9.58 & give him a Hary start & Bolt's time drops .106, to 9.484! Now: someone tell Bolt not to look over his shoulder. Makes for 9.40, I say.
In the 200m, take Bolt's 150M flat race of 14.36, 0.39 faster than his 19.30 Beijing race. Bolt covered the last 50m of his 150m WR in 4.46 seconds. With his smooth stride he could match that for another 50m, and would hit 18.86 on a straightaway, with wet conditions. Running a curve adds 0.2 - 0.5 sec. Bolt runs curves very well, so figure 0.2, and makes for 19.06 on wet conditions. On a dry surface, perhaps he goes under the magic 19.0 mark. Also give him an allowable tailwind, instead of his Berlin headwind, and sub-19.0 seems very doable.
Is there a 400m in Bolt's running future? 9.5 & 19.0 would make for 28.5 sec. for 300m. Say he does 10.5 for the first 100m & 20.5 for the 200m segment, each leg a full second slower than his estimated (by me) potential best, an eternity in running sprints, and he goes into the final 100m of a 400m race at 31.0. Michael Johnson's 400m WR is 43.18. You make the call. Mine? I say Bolt comes in under 43. Will this happen? How long before Bolt gets bored burying 100m & 200m fields, and looks for new running worlds to conquer?
Instead, Bolt was quoted this weekend as saying he would like to try the long jump, in which the WR is 30 feet 2-1/4 inches. On pure speed & with his stride, figure Bolt tops 28 feet without training. But there is elevated risk: the kinetic kicking movements of top long jump form carry high risk of injury. Bolt should take another year to put his mark on the perfect sprints, then move on to aerials.
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