By Josh Hurlebaus
If you’re like me, you spent the past week glued to your TV watching the US Olympic trials with live-streams of the Jamaican championships and the European championships playing on your computer. This is the second greatest part of the year for us track fans, the Olympic trials! And for us sprinters it is a time to lean forward in our chairs and marvel at the precision and power of these athletes.
Predictions are notoriously hard to make this early on. Injuries can occur, athletes that are currently injured may heal, and athletes seem to come out of the woodwork and run phenomenally due to the atmosphere of the games. Given those caveats, here is my Olympic preview of the Men’s sprints- starting with the 100m Dash.
Men’s 100m Dash- Top Contenders
The Jamaicans
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The man with the record. Usain Bolt
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The upstart training partner. Yohan Blake
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The man who had the record. Asafa Powell
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The road to gold makes a hell of a detour through Jamaica. No matter how you slice it, Jamaica has three legitimate contenders for the gold medal in London. With Usain Bolt having the tendency to shave tenths of seconds off of his time when the stakes are finally high enough for him to care, it’s hard not to have the defending Olympic champion as the #1 going into the Olympics. However, if you are looking strictly at performance within the last year, I would wager my money on Yohan Blake. You don’t run 19.26 on accident and once he has a few more races underneath him I am willing to be we will see a third name added to the sub 9.70 club this year. Asafa is hard to judge, given his current injury. However, if you can run 9.88 after flying to Miami to have your injury injected with medicine to numb it and then fly back, chances are you’re going to run a hell of a lot faster when you’re healthy.
The Americans
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The second fastest man in the history of the 100m. Tyson Gay |
The man still running from his past. Justin Gatlin |
I find myself confused and worried about the United States’ chances at medaling this year. On one hand, we have Tyson Gay. Mr. 9.69. He has run faster than any American ever and he has done it multiple times. He is also coming off of an entire year with no races and another surgery to repair an injury. This man, unfortunately, has spent more time rehabbing since the 2008 Olympics than he has racing. That being said, he sure as hell knocked the rust off at the US trials, going 9.86 in just his second competition this year. Justin Gatlin has been on a hell of a comeback ever since the ban was lifted and he’s been able to race again. That ban however still raises questions. If he continues on the way he is progressing, do not be surprised to see him in the 9.7’s and be a definite medal contender.
The Others
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 Richard Thompson
The Olympic silver medalist from 2008 has been trying to regain the form seen in that Olympic final. He has a 9.96 to his name so far this year and will undoubtedly run fast, but will it be enough to be in the mix for a medal again?
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 Christophe Lemaitre
The fastest Frenchmen on the planet right now has yet to break 10 this season, but given the last few years of progression should be back in the mid 9.9’s fairly soon. His PR in the 60m this year shows that his early acceleration is finally catching up with his top speed and speed endurance. I expect to see him in the mix for reaching the Olympic final and possibly getting top 6.
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 Keston Bledman
Who? Precisely. But this young man from T&T happens to have a 9.86 and a 9.93 to his name this year. He is not as refined as other sprinters, but he runs hard and is clearly fast. Pre 2008, I would have said this would make him a contender for Gold, but times have certainly changed. Now 9.8’s only put you in the hunt for top 5. Keston is my official wild card that is guaranteed to throw a wrench into the predictions of many.
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Given the remarkable talent across the board this year, it is extremely safe to say that the only thing that will prevent near world record times at the Olympics will be the weather. London is tricky at the best of times when it comes to rain, but if everything goes perfect on the night of the 100m final do not expect anything slower than a 9.75 to medal!
About Josh:
Josh Hurlebaus is the sprints coach at Carroll University and recently coached LJ Hyland to an All-America finish and school record (dropping a full second off of his PR) in his inaugural year in charge of the Carroll sprinters. Josh has been an Elitetrack member since 2005 and is actively involved in many sprint discussions. He also has consulted various All-American sprinters from other schools such as Zach Lee and Scott Thomas.
A former Carroll athlete himself, Josh was a 4x All-American and continued to set personal records post-collegiately. He was a 1x USATF Indoor Qualifier. Below are his personal bests.
60m– 6.73
100m-10.38
200m– 20.97 (21.47indoor)
Find his blog at yourunlikecrap.com
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