Usain Bolt, whose 9.58-second 100m world record has stood for 16 years, believes he could have run 9.42 in today’s carbon-plated “super-spikes.”
Idman.biz, citing Reuters, reports that the Jamaican set the mark at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, breaking his own 9.69 from the Beijing Olympics, and it has now outlasted Jim Hines’s 1968 9.95. Speaking ahead of the Tokyo World Championships, Bolt said he agrees with Puma research predicting the faster time.
He cited Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce’s improvement using modern spikes as proof of the technology’s impact. Despite Kishane Thompson’s 9.75 run this year, Bolt remains confident his record is safe, saying “at this present moment, I don't think they will be able to break the world record.”
Bolt retired in 2017 with six Olympic and seven world 100m and 200m golds. He expects Jamaica’s current sprinters, including Thompson and Oblique Seville, to contend for medals in Tokyo, adding, “I’m looking forward to it… hopefully I’ll be able to present the gold medal to one of them.”
Idman.biz
