US-based sprinter, Adam Harris blasted to the Moscow IAAF World Championship 100m B-Standard with a blistering 10.18 second run on his way to qualifying for the 100m final at Saturday’s USATF Florida Masters/Open Championship at Ansin Sport Complex, Miramar, Florida.
Harris duly won the 100m final but with a slower time of 10.21 seconds, according to the ‘Half mile timing’ online website. Rhoan Sterling and Sean Stuart finished second and third respectively in 10.36 seconds and 10.52 seconds.
Harris told Stabroek Sport that he was happy to know that he is fast again.
“It is nice to be feeling fast again. I have not been this fast since 2009 and it’s good to be where I should be and faster,” the 25-year-old said.
The new personal best time would also erase James Gilkes’ 1978 10.19 seconds Ingelheim, Germany national record which was equalled by 2012 Olympian, Jeremy Bascom at an USATF National Club Championships in Omaha, United States in July.
It was also stated on the USATF Florida Association on-line meet entry ‘coachoregistration.com’ website that the meet is sanctioned. The page reads, “This is an USATF Sanctioned event.”
The 5’9 sprinter said he could have run faster in the final but was unable to because of surrounding issues at the meet.
According to Harris the meet coordinators did not got with the scheduled order of events.
“There was supposed to be an 800m and masters steeplechase before the 100m final but somehow they skipped the masters event and into the 100m final. With that, the finalists went into the race without warming up,” the IAAF World Championship qualifier explained.
In addition, he said that his coach wanted to experiment with his stride frequency in the last 20m of the race. Harris is of the view that if he had not changed his race strategy he would have probably ran 10.11/.10 seconds.
“My coach wanted to try something different for the final. He wanted me to increase my stride frequency at the last 20m of the race but instead I went slower and that threw me off,” he said.
The 185-pound sprinter said there is a lot more room for improvement in his performance given it was only his third race for the season.
“I am sure I will be able to get the A Standard time before the Championship.”
The athlete who indicated that he has a new coach opened the athletic season with 10.34 seconds.
“It was a fast opener so I knew it would have been a fast season for me,” he told Stabroek Sport.
His next race saw him decreasing his time to 10.25 seconds. The time was recorded at an USATF Meet.
The 1987-born athlete, who represented Guyana in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, indicated that he is willing to represent Guyana at the August 10-18 IAAF World Championship, if the opportunity is granted by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG).
Up to press time, no formal email was sent to the AAG by the USATF-Florida Masters/Open Meet director Jose Alegria or by the athlete indicating the performance.
