MIAMI: US sprinter Trayvon Bromell threw down an Olympic challenge on Saturday, clocking a world-leading 9.77sec to win the 100m at a meeting in Florida and become the seventh-fastest all time.
In a wind of 1.5 m/sec, Bromell stormed to victory at the NACAC New Life Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Miramar, Florida.
The world indoor 60m champion in 2016, Bromell faced just three competitors in his heat, getting off to a strong start and powering away to become the ninth man to break 9.80sec over 100m.
It continues an impressive build up towards the Tokyo Olympics for Bromell, the 25-year-old who has battled injuries the past few seasons.
In April he clocked a then world-leading 9.88sec at a meet in Jacksonville, Florida.
Bromell’s form suggests he is firmly in the frame as a potential 100m gold medallist in Tokyo, where world champion Christian Coleman will be absent because of a doping ban.
Bromell exploded onto the athletics scene in 2015, when he ran a personal best time of 9.84sec for the 100m before his 20th birthday — the fastest time ever run by a teenager over the distance — before later claiming a bronze at that year’s World Championships in Beijing.
After winning 60m indoor world gold in 2016 he suffered disappointment at the Rio Olympics, finishing in eighth place in the final won by Usain Bolt.
He later suffered a torn Achilles in the final of the 4x100m relay, the start of an injury nightmare that saw him miss two full years of competition.
Fraser-Pryce sizzles
Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the second fastest woman in history on Saturday, clocking a world-leading 10.63 seconds (1.3m/sec) for the 100m at the Olympic Destiny meeting in Kingston.
The 34-year-old reigning world and two-time Olympic 100m champion obliterated the field at the National Stadium, finishing several metres clear of her closest rival.
Only late US sprinting star Florence Griffith-Joyner, who holds the world record of 10.49sec, has run faster.
Fraser-Pryce’s time smashed the previous 2021 world-leading time of 10.72sec set by Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States in March.
Fraser-Pryce had shared the Jamaican national record with Elaine Thompson-Herah at 10.70 seconds and she had a season’s best 10.84 seconds coming into the meet, organised by the Jamaica Olympic Association and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.
After getting off to a bullet-like start, Fraser-Pryce ran away from the field to win by a massive margin, with Natasha Morrison a distant second in 10.95 seconds and Kashieka Cameron third on 11.39.
Fraser-Pryce, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic 100m champion, was running her fourth 100m for the season and as surprised by her time as the small gathering at the stadium.
“Honestly, no, I wasn’t coming out here to run that fast,” she
said. “Thank God that I finish healthy.”
She said she was able to relax and run as “there was no pressure — just wanted to get one more race in before the national trials.”
Fraser-Pryce did hint, however, that she can run faster with the Olympics approaching.
“If I am able to run 10.6 now and trials is some time away, this year I just wanted to break the 10.7 barrier so now I can focus on making the team to the Olympics,” she said.
Fraser-Pryce, who passed Americans Marion Jones (10.65) and Carmelita Jeter (10.64) on the all-time list, said Saturday’s race should be taken in context.
“It’s one part of the process,” she said. “I can’t get too complacent as I still have to make the national team at the national trials.”
Only the top three finishers in the event at the Jamaican Championships set for June 24-27 will be selected to run the 100 metres at the Tokyo Olympics set for July. — AFP
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