By Gary Tim
in New York
New York, NY (SMS) – A month ago, he became the second fastest man, ever, with a 9.76s clocking. Two weeks later he raced to 9.92s, and said a faster time was possible. That quicker run came at the Icahn Stadium in New York on Saturday, as Jamaican sprint sensation, Usain Bolt, blazed to a world-record (WR) 9.72s to win the Men’s 100m at the Reebok Grand Prix.
The tailwind was measured at 1.7 m/s, .3 under the limit at which a record can be set.
He dethroned compatriot Asafa Powell’s WR (9.74s) done in Rieti last September. And, understandably, Bolt reserved his best for the ‘media capital of the world’, and his feat was a celebration not only for the 3300 plus Jamaicans and West Indians among the 6000 fans, but the wider Caribbean community in the US. He also added to the euphoric feeling of his fellow Jamaicans by outrunning America’s best and world champion Tyson Gay.
It was sight and sounds as an original 9.71s was adjusted, then the Jamaica flag was hoisted and the national anthem sung.
The lanky (6’ 5”) runner, considered too tall for this kind of event, created a wide gap between himself and Gay (9.85s PB) at about 65m, then routed him to the tape. Within moments of crossing the finish line, Bolt hoisted the Jamaican flag and the crowd went wild as he paraded the ground to the sounds Bob Marley’s ‘Jammin’ on the stadium’s PA system.
He got a hug from Gay, then went off to do interviews, while Reggae Sunsplash-like celebrations took over just outside the stadium as organizers had scheduled a post-meet concert considering the tremendous Caribbean fan-base over the past three years.
“Just coming here, knowing a lot of Jamaicans were here giving me their support, it meant a lot,” Bolt said. “I just wanted to give them what they wanted.”
But who could have expected this? The 21-year-old 200m specialist, who holds the world junior record had only two sub-10s before in the Caribbean, making critics wonder of his ability to ‘dish it out’ overseas.
Now he’s `legit’.
After a bad false start by the field(the recall gun went off as the runners were 20m down the track) then a ‘call out the blocks’, this simply didn’t seem like a night for world records.
But it was.
As though the gods were signaling ‘things to come’, Bolt’s feat came after metro New York was threatened by a sharp downpour accompanied by startling thunder and lightning that delayed the start by an hour.
Halfway in, a brief storm hit, cooling the track and leaving just the faintest sheen of glistening moisture for the last and most-anticipated race.
“He ran a perfect race,” Gay said. “I’ve got to take my hat off to him.”
That made a prophet out of a usually reserved, but affirmative Gay who predicted that with himself, Bolt and Powell lining up against each other in the coming months, “the record could go down, down, down.”
Olympic 200m champion Shawn Crawford of the US, witnessed history two lanes inside of Bolt, and remarked…“He’s an awesome athlete. The time shows it.”
This is the first time a 100m record has been set in the US since the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, when Donovan Bailey ran 9.84.
At a press conference in mid town New York, Thursday, Bolt said he had asked his coach of two years to be allowed to run the 100m, mostly because he did not want to run the 400m.
Now, he has justified his requests.
Saturday night he told Stabroek Sport, “I knew if I could beat Tyson out of the blocks, I could win the race.” He felt his race was “99% perfect,” refusing to speculate on what showing a perfect race would represent. “I don’t need to break the record again,” he laughed. “It’s mine now, but it (WR) means nothing without gold in the World Championships or the Olympics,” he added. “If you’re the Olympic champion, they have to wait 4 years to try to beat you.”
Bolt wasn’t the only Jamaican sprinter lighting up the hearts of supporters. Women’s world 100m and Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown ran 10.91s to take over the 2008 world lead. Americans Marshavet Hooker and Muna Lee (10.94s and 10.97s respectively) followed her, with previous list-leader Allyson Felix (10.93s) 5th in 11.13s. Campbell-Brown pointed out that she ran 10.93s here in 2007, and felt that she was “already ahead” of last year.
Elsewhere, America’s Jamaica-born track darling Sanya Richards moved up to 3rd on the 2008 list with a 50.04s win over born and bred Jamaican Novlene Williams (50.85s) in the Women’s.400m Dominating the field Richards said “I would have liked to be sub-50, but I am happy with the win, and I knew I had it with 150m to go.” Kenyan Paul Koech ran 8:01.85 in the 3000m Steeplechase to set a U.S. all-comers record (fastest time on US soil) In his first event of the year. Then America’s track darling, Beijing Olympics posterboy, China’s 110m Olympic and world record holder Liu Xiang opted not to compete due to tightness in his right hamstring. Although he warmed up for his race, he emerged on the track to apologize to fans, including a slew of Chinese aficionados and media personnel, after deciding against the risk. American Terrence Trammell, won the race in 13.11s.
Polevaulter Jenn Stuczynski, who set a new PB of 4.90m a week ago, won with a huge clearance at 4.80m and asked for the bar to be set to 5.02m, which had she cleared it would have been a new WR. Her three attempts were progressively better, but she was unable to get a clearance.
As a matter of note, Grenada’s champion Neisha Bernard-Thomas who is a training partner of Guyanese Marian Burnett (not at this meet), ran smartly for second behind Bahrain’s 1500 world champion Maryam Jamal in the Women’s 800m. She did a PB of 2:00.91 to make an Olympic qualification (‘B’) for the first time.
