Usain Bolt post history

Usain Bolt analysis (well, about as much as is possible, for now...)

If you're looking for analysis of Usain Bolt's magnificent 9.58s WR last night, you're in the right place!

Click here for our detailed analysis, including Bolt's splits, speeds and a comparison with his previous world record in Beijing

In the aftermath of Usain Bolt's unbelievable 9.58s WR last night in Berlin, I have noticed how the sports world has been buzzing with searches on Bolt (courtesy Google search engine and incoming links to our site)

So I thought I'd do a cursory post summarizing some of the posts we've done on Usain Bolt since Beijing 2008. These are just some of them, the ones that look in a little more detail at Bolt's background, his performances, his infamous celebrations (and how much time they cost him in Beijing) and what is possible from this astonishing sprinter.

I have no doubt, judging from the latest highlight produced by Bolt, that he'll be a topic of more discussion in the future. In particular, some German scientists are doing research in Berlin, and will be producing data of the speeds and times for each 10m interval in that race.

When that happens, we'll be all over it! Until then, the following articles are a look back, before we look forward!

• Usain Bolt run 9.58s in Berlin (August 16, 2009)
• The limits to human performance (December 23, 2009)
  
• How fast could Usain Bolt have run in Beijing 2008? (December 16, 2008)
  
• 9.69s. But could Usain Bolt have run 9.55s? Not a chance... (Sept 12, 2008)
  
• Discovering Usain Bolt: Who is this guy? (August 21, 2008)
  
• Men's 100m Race Analysis: Split times and speeds (August 17, 2008)
  
• Men's 100m. Usain Bolt 9.69 World Record. Race Report (August 16, 2008)

As mentioned, more to come, as soon as data emerge!

Join us then!

Ross

Usain Bolt 9.58s!!!!

9.58s 9.58s 9.58s

If you're looking for analysis of Usain Bolt's magnificent 9.58s WR last night, you're in the right place.

Click here for our detailed analysis, including Bolt's splits, speeds and a comparison with his previous world record in Beijing

Extra-ordinary. 9.58 seconds for 100m, and Usain Bolt just got better. Quite astonishing, as the Jamaican won the race by 0.13 seconds from Tyson Gay (who himself smoked a PB by six hundreths of a second)!

I have no doubt that in the coming days, we'll start to see some analysis of this race - there is a group of German scientists who are doing a comprehensive analysis and so we will, in due course, get some reliable information and it will provide some great food for discussion and scientific insights. I can promise you that we'll definitely cover it when it arrives, so join us in the future. For now, however, I guess we just get to enjoy what we've just seen.

Bolt's race was near perfect. He got away so fast, just remarkable, with Tyson Gay alongside him and Asafa Powell one further over to his right. Those two might have expected that by 30m, they'd be ahead of Bolt - at least, that would be their plan, and maybe force Bolt to come past them.

However, it never happened. Bolt led almost from the gun, his start being the big difference compared to last year in Beijing. He was out so quickly, something that had happened in the semi-final as well, and gave us a sign of what was to come, when he basically jogged to a 9.89s.

Bolt has, somehow, managed to take sprinting forward AGAIN. One year after he moved the event (and the sport) into a new era with his exploits in Beijing, one might have forgiven him for a "routine" victory in the World Championships. But to see the event propelled forward even more is just remarkable, and the sport is better for it. To have such a great race (the three athletes in the middle lanes were the three fastest in history - Bolt, Gay, Powell) is indeed a rare privilege and it's a golden era for men's sprinting.

Long may it continue, and maybe even improve again? Is that too much to ask? Doesn't seem like it with Bolt.

Comparing this to Beijing - not very valid at all

One thing I will say is that the commentators and fans have already begun making the mistake of using this performance to suggest that that we now know how fast Bolt might have gone had he not started celebrating 20m from the finish line back in Beijing in 2008.

A number of posters are already chiming in saying "See, he could have run 9.55s in Beijing". Seriously, that's irrelevant now. It's a year on, a different race. There is no way Bolt cost himself 0.11 seconds in Beijing.

That said, a comparison between Berlin and Beijing will be very interesting - I can't wait for te German research to be published. I have a feeling that we'll see that of the 0.11 second improvement on his Beijing time, probably 0.08s of it came in the first 40m, and the other 0.03s comes at the end, where Bolt does not celebrate before finishing (at least, that's my 'hypothesis' - bring on the data!). The big difference was that start, which was absolutely amazing.

Usain Bolt, 2009 version is an even better athlete than we saw in Beijing - he has worked on his start, he has consolidated that middle part of the race, and he is just incredible.

Bring on the 200m!

Ross

Women's 10000m race report: Drama as Masai claims gold

It's Masai as Kenya claim the first track gold! High drama in Berlin

Everything about the women's 10,000m final last night looked predictable for about 9,950m. A slow start, then a surge in the pace after about 7,000m (courtesy Linet Masai), a slight drop off as the main protagonists prepared for the finishing kick, and then an Ethiopian sweep of the medals. No one could have bargained on the final 100m, where the lead changed three times, where the pre-race favourite's wheels came off, where the second favourite celebrated too soon and where Linet Masai timed her sprint to perfection to win Kenya's first gold of the Championships!

It ended an era of Ethiopian dominance that dates back to 1999, where Gete Wami won the title. Five more World titles, five more world champions. In fact, so dominant have they been that out of 15 medals in the last five world championships, they have won 10, including all the golds. Last night, they won an 11th and 12th, but not the one that really counts - that streak has been ended by Masai.

How it unfolded

Unlike the previous two editions of the World Championships, it was not Tirunesh Dibaba but Meseret Defar who positioned herself on the shoulder of the Kenyans as they passed through the bell. But like Dibaba, Defar swept passed on the back straight and seemed poised to pull away over the final 200m. Meselech Melkamu was positioned to claim second and Wude Ayalew was battling the Kenyans for bronze. And then it all went wrong.

With 80m to go, the signs were there that Defar was struggling. Melkamu clipped her from behind at least twice in the last 250m, including one with 70m to go, which suggested that Defar wasn't going all that fast. With about 40m to go, Defar's legs seemed to seize up, it looked for a moment as though she had strained a hamstring, her stride shortening with every step.

Melkamu moved past, and then threw her hands up in celebration, unaware of the fast charging Masai on her right. In slow-motion replays, her eyes actually drift right, and so I am amazed she did not see Masai, because it seemed as though she she looked right at her. She didn't register, obviously. Perhaps, like just about everyone else, she had figured that if she beat Defar, she won the race. Everyone except Masai, that is. Post race, she said "I was extremely happy we had retained gold" - a lesson to run through the line.

Defar, meanwhile, went from first to fifth in about 30 meters, and as soon as she had crossed the line, stumbled backwards, which was fitting, since her final 30m was just about backwards too. She said afterwards that her legs just did not want to respond - I thought she's strained a hamstring muscle, but in the end, she was run right out of it. A very disappointing day.

The pace - nothing special

Overall, the race was not spectacular, with a steady but conservative early pace set by the Russians. Halfway was reached in 15:45, which meant a second half of 15:06. Even that is not spectacularly fast - previous editions have been won in 30:04 (2003), 30:24 (2005), and 29:54 (in Beijing). (The 2007 time was slow - 31:55, in the hot and humid Osaka).

The relatively slow pace makes the final lap even more unexpected - Defar has shown the ability to produce a fast lap off a good pace in the 5,000m, and perhaps she found the 10,000m distance too great to do the same. The final lap was run in 63 seconds, also not spectacularly fast when you consider that Dibaba has broken 60 seconds in some of her victories. It puts into perspective what Dibaba actually achieved in her 10,000 victories.

Overall, then, a magnificent finish, a strange race, and a new champion for Kenya. The men's 10,000m is on Monday, and Linet Masai's brother, Moses, will take heart from her triumph. It seems anything can happen...however, I dare say that Bekele will prove slightly more difficult to dethrone and Ethiopia should square up the east African rivalry at 1-1. Then again, my last prediction was atrocious!

Join us later!
Ross

IAAF World Champs Day 1

World Champs Day 1: Women's 10,000m and 100m heats

I'm writing this while watching the first round of the men's 100m, a sign that the IAAF World Championships are well and truly underway. I had planned a post previewing all the track races, and giving my medal picks, but time ran away from me, and besides, you'd get better and more comprehensive news from LetsRun's dedicated World Champs site. What I will do is preview events as they come, and hopefully do some post-race reports. There's no swimsuit science or doping and climbing power output to discuss, but a lot to say nonetheless!

Women's 10,000m - no Dibaba, but Ethiopia to dominate anyway

In the women's 10,000m, Tirunesh Dibaba, the defending champion and the Olympic champ over 5 and 10k was forced to pull out earlier this week with an injury. It's an injury which has hampered her all year, and the truth is she was not really the favourite to win this race anyway. That honour probably went to Meseret Defar, even with Dibaba in the race. Her withdrawal means that Defar assumes the outright favourite tag.

The only opposition is likely to come from Ethiopians - one wearing the vest of Turkey (Elvan Abeylegesse) and the others representing Ethiopia. Abeylegesse has been the perennial silver medalist at major championships - Osaka 2007, Beijing 10,000m and Beijing 5,000m. Her 2009 form is nothing special, but she rarely seems to race in Europe, but has featured strongly at championships. There's no reason to think she won't be in similar shape in Berlin. Her "achilles heel" in the past has been finishing speed, and she's fallen victim to Dibaba's finishing kick in all three of those races mentioned above. She may provide the sparks tonight, because it is likely that she will instigate the major surges in the second half of the race in attempt to burn off the Ethiopian speed.

With Dibaba out, Abeylegesse's challenge doesn't get any easier, because Defar has speed to burn as well, and so she's likely to assume Dibaba's role perfectly. Look for the race to be conservative to halfway, then for Abeylegesse to push on, but for Defar to sit in third or fourth all race and then win it in the final 300m. Defar also has the 5th fastest time in history at 29:59, in what was her first ever 10,000m race, and so she has what it takes to run fast, slow with a kick and it's difficult to see how she may be beaten.

Perhaps Meselech Melkamu can produce a surprise - she ran 29:53 earlier this year, the second best of all time (and maybe fastest "clean" time), and so she is the fastest in the field. However, in a championship race, minus the pacemakers, its difficult to see her matching Defar. She may split Defar and Abeylegesse, depending on form, but I think I'd bank on Defar to win ahead of Abeylegesse, with Melkamu in third.

Men's 100m - heats

The big showpiece event of the week's athletics is the 100m showdown between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, both men having moved safelty through to the quarter-finals, which take place this evening. Bolt jogged pretty much the last 70m of the race and qualified comfortably, while Gay registered the fastest time (10.16s, so it's hardly telling us anything) looking a little more tense, but that is largely down to the different form of the two men.

The only drama in the first round was provided by Asafa Powell, who either wound his race down to perfection, or found himself with a smaller margin than he expected, and finished third in his heat, only just getting through to the quarter-finals. Two-hundredths of a second slower would have seen him finish fourth, and watching the quarterfinals from the stands tonight.

I'll do a proper pre-race preview once the semi-finallists are known, but at this stage, it's difficult to see Bolt losing and difficult to see anyone but Gay coming close. It's certainly not a sure thing for Bolt, because Gay is good enough when healthy to force Bolt into running close to his best, but seems to just be that critical distance back of the Jamaican. Time will tell, but I'd predict Bolt ahead of Gay, Daniel Bailey in third.

Overall favourites

Finally, if you want to get an indication of general sentiment regarding each event, the best place to get it is Letsrun.com's prediction contest: You can enter and win some good money, but it's a tough ask. However, it makes for really interesting reading if you look at the event by event averages.

It shows that the biggest favourite of the week is Kenenisa Bekele, who 98% of entrants have picked to win the 10,000m. On the women's side, it's Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole-vault.

The "tightest" event is the men's 800m, where it's almost a deadheat between Kaki and Kiprop (though it is a two-horse race). The marathon is most widely spread. It's always interesting to take the average of the predictions, and see how they pan out.

We'll be doing our best to see how everything pans out ourselves, and there is more to follow, so join us again soon!

Ross