Exactly one year after his amazing 100m run at the Olympics Bolt has brokenhis own record by more than 1/10th of a second.
To understand why this is such an amazing performance just take a look at the progressionfor the 100m record probably the most prestigious in all of track and field. The record has fallen by roughly a second over 100 years, around 1/10th of a second per decade. In the 70’s and 80’s it appeared stuck in the 9.90’s and you might have been forgiven for thinking that the limit of human speed had been reached. Then Carl Lewis breached the 9.90 mark with 9.86 in 1991 and the record gradually began falling again but only to 9.77 by 2005.
Bolt was the first to break 9.70 at the Olympics last year and now he has shaved a 1/10th of a second all by himself in just one year. It probably ranks along with Beamon’s long jump at Mexico City as one of the greatest record-breaking performances in athletic history.
And you have to wonder where he will stop. At 22 he is quite young for a sprinter and has several years to improve. He should be able to break his record again some time. Could he possibly breach the 9.50 mark?