In something that has become almost unprecedented in today’s short sprints, we’re going to get the chance to watch the top two two of the top three titans of the sprinting world face off in a non-championship race on July 10th in Rome. That’s right, Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt Asafa Powell will finally hit the track to face off against each other in what has been a match almost a year in the making. Tyson is the man with the fastest 100m under any conditions and the fastest 100m and 200m of 2009 (with the 100m being a wind aided 9.75). Usain is the indomitable sprint sensation that rocked the sporting world last summer by dropping World Record 9.69 and 19.30 times at the Beijing Olympics. Asafa is the fast 100m time-trialer the world has ever seen. Because of Tyson’s hamstring injury at the 2008 Olympic trials we never got to see him possibly give Bolt or Powell a run for his their money. Usain has been dropping some subtle trash talk on Tyson, dismissing his recent 9.75 and saying that he won’t be able to break the world record and that Asafa will be a bigger challenge. Will this phase Tyson? More importantly, who will win? Is Bolt in Beijing-like fitness? Has Asafa regained his machine like fitness? Can Tyson run as fast without the wind? Will a world record be broken? These are all questions we will soon have answers to.
Edit- I wrote this up thinking it was Bolt vs Powell. As Davan said…I got too excited and apparently saw what I wanted to see.