Sunday August 5 is shaping up to be one of the greatest nights in athletics if not sports history. And it may not all be Usain Bolt.
The Olympic men’s 100 metres final will be the gathering of the eight fastest men in history should current form hold till then. A time of sub 9.9 seconds could be the benchmark needed to even make the final.
With the completion of the European, African Championships, US and Jamaican trials on Sunday 1 July, the results sheets were nothing short of stunning.
Of course the biggest news is the defeat of dual reigning Olympic champion Usain Bolt in the 100 and 200 metres by Yohan Blake, the current world 100 metre champion.
While Blake’s win in the 100 metres is not completely out of the blue due to some up and down results from Bolt this season, it was the win in Bolt’s more favoured 200 metres that must have raised some eyebrows in Kingston. Bolt went down by 0.03s.
Bolt has stated that he wants to run under 19 seconds in London and has probably set his training for that feat so an excuse may be made for his less than sharp form, by his standards, for the 100 metres recently. But to go down to Blake in the 200 metres to Blake must surely have thrown a spanner in the works for Bolts’ preparation now.
The most stunning result of the 100 metres final for Jamaica was the top four running under 10 seconds. Asafa Powell kept his solid early season form by blasting out of the blocks to lead for all but the last three strides being caught first by Blake then Bolt on the line. Blake’s time of 9.75 was a personal best with Bolt clocking 9.86 and Powell 9.88.
Meanwhile, at the US trials in Eugene Oregon, they went one better and had five go under 10 seconds in the final. Justin Gatlin 2004 gold medallist edged arch rival Tyson Gay to the line in 9.80 and 9.86 respectively. Gatlin is rebuilding his career and credibility after returning from a 4 year drug suspension in 2010.
The only Caucasian that may line up in the London final is France’s Christophe Lamaitre, who defended his European 100 metre crown in Helsinki on Friday. His time of 10.09 seems almost pedestrian compared to those of the US and Jamaican trials. However, the cold and damp conditions of the Finnish capital did not present well for fast sprinting.
Lemaitre’s personal best of 9.92 will need to be repeated or lowered if he wants to be the first Caucasian to threaten for gold since Brit Alan Wells in the boycotted games of 1980. At just 22 his best years are yet to come perhaps.
With such a crop of sprinters running lighting times, it may well be the 100 metre relay that is the most stunning race at the London Games. Reigning and Olympic champions Jamaica have an embarrassment of riches to choose from especially with Powell back in form. He missed the world record run at the 2011 world championships due to injury. With the US coming back from some underwhelming years in sprinting, they may well threaten again.
However, their teams have been plagued with poor baton changing in past years and at times not made it past the first round at major championships. Ego driven teams with members not even talking to each other like Dennis Mitchell and Carl Lewis has not helped the US in the past.
One team committed to art of relay in 2012 is the French. The fact that they have held training camps once a month for the last year working solely on baton changes and team harmony may shake a few other fancied teams out of complacency. The French briefly held the world record 1989.
It augers well for something very special in London. 25 days to go!
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