The young man from New York, whose name reminds us of the Gatling, an old machine-gun. As soon as Justin ran times in the 9.80 region, after clocking five times under this barrier, he was beaten by Usain by one hundred of a second in the hottest clash of the World Championships in Beijing on the track which revealed the prodigious star from Trelawny in 2008. The 100m is decided by a matter of very close margins, by millimetric gaps, and wins taken by a hair’s breadth. Bolt set the Golden Gala and Olympic Stadium record by a hundredth of a second. Tyson Gay set the meeting record with 9.77 in 2009. After the feat achieved by Justin in 2015, the Golden Gala and stadium record is just one hundredth of a second shy from the Italian All-Comers record set by Asafa Powell of 9.74 in the heat of the Rieti meeting in 2007, before replicating this performance in the final with 9.78. This unprecedented double was achieved in a restricted period of time of just two hours.
These are the 26 sub-10 seconds performances set at the Golden Gala in chronological order:
1998 Frankie Fredericks (Nam) 9.97; Ato Bodon (Tri) 9.98
1999 Maurice Greene (Usa) 9.85
2000 Greene 9.97
2002 Greene 9.89
2005 Justin Gatlin (Usa) 9.96
2006 Asafa Powell (Jam) 9.85
2007 Powell 9.85
2009 Tyson Gay (Usa) 9.77 and 9.96 (h), Powell 9.88 and 9.98 (h), Daniel Bailey(Ant) 9.97 and 9.96(h), Yohan Blake (Jam) 9.96
2010 Powell 9.82
2011 Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.91; Powell 9.93
2012 Bolt 9.76; Powell 9.91
2013 Gatlin 9.94; Bolt 9.95
2014 Gatlin 9.91
2015 Gatlin 9.75; Jimmy Vicaut (Fra) 9.98; Mike Rodgers (Usa) 9.98
Gatlin is bidding to win for the fifth time and the fourth consecutive time. He scored four consecutive seasonal wins: 10.02 in Kawasaki, 9.94 in Shanghai, 9.94 in Beijing and a wind-assisted 9.88 in Eugene.
Wayde van Niekerk dipped under 10 seconds, although he is not a pure sprinter. He is the first athlete in history to dip under 10 seconds in the 100m, under 20 seconds and under 44 seconds in the 400m. He is able to show every form of speed, ranging from the explosive sprint to the ability to keep a cruise speed thanks to a perfect distribution. He set the fourth fastest time in history and the first non- US best performance with 43.48 when he won the world title in Beijing. He became the fastest 400m in history on 12th March with 9.98 in Bloemfontein (the fountain of flowers), the Capital of Free State located at 1395 metres of altitude. In the same venue he clocked a highly impressive 44.11 over his favourite distance two months later on 6th May. The 24-year-old sprinter from Cape Town, who knows the track of Gemona very well, ran just three hundredths of a second slower than the 2016 world seasonal best set by Grenada’s Kirani James at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The Golden Gala, stadium and All-Comers record is a very tough time to achieve even for Wayde. It was set by Jeremy Wariner, who clocked 43.62 in 2006. The second and the third fastest times on Italian soil set by Quincy Watts with 44.13 in 1993 at 2050 metres of altitude at Sestriere and by Michael Johnson in Rieti with 44.21 in 1990 are within the reach of Van Niekerk.
Giorgio Cimbrico
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