Athens, Greece- Jamaica?s Asafa Powell set a new 100 meter world record on Tuesday after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds at the OlympicStadium. The 22-year-old’s time beatTim Montgomery?s previous (and highly questionable) record of 9.78 set in Paris in September 2002to become the fastest man ever over the distance. What’s amazing is that:
- The kid is only 22 years old
- Unlike Montgomery’s record, this was doesn’t appear to be a fluke. Montgomery ran under PERFECT conditions (maximum allowable wind,warm weather, fast track, etc.). On top of that, Montgomery was never as consistent as Powell has been this past season. Powell has looked like he could have broken the WR on 3 previous attempts this year, only to slow up and practically jog across the line.
I watched the video and Powell throws in a huge burst at about 70m pulling away from a decent field.To be able to do that takes amazing speed endurance. It’s going to be tough for the Americans to keep up with this kid.