Tyson Gay
Congratulations goes to Tyson Gay who yesterday won the IAAF World Athletics Championships 100-m in 9.85-s.
As discussed in an earlier post, Gay had to get by his standards a decent start – and he did. His reaction time of 0.143 was faster than Asafa Powell’s 0.145, yet due to Gays poor technique Powell had maybe 1.5-m lead on Gay up until 60-m.
However, thanks to Gay’s superb top speed and slower rate of deceleration he was able to claw back Powell’s lead and actually beat Powell by 2-2.5-m. Obviously Gay’s training programme is a closely guarded secret however he attributes his top speed and slower rate of deceleration to a lot of over-distance running. Rumour has it his favourite distance in training is 250-m. With such an emphasis on over-distance it is not illogical to understand why his start is slightly off the pace of his rivals. When John Drummond (who is tutoring Gay) gets Gays starts up to standard – watch out for 9.75-s!
In the Norwich Union London Grand Prix tomorrow evening Tyson Gay will attempt to break the World 100-m record jointly held by Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin of 9.77-s.
Certainly he has the ability, and the top speed and has already run faster than the world record this season, albeit a wind assisted 9.76-s.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s8DgXRjGQ
But as the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka draws closer what will limit Gay in achieving the WR?
Well, this would definitely be the start of the 100-m. Gay has been inconsistent this season but has been working with former US sprinter John Drummond in an attempt to correct his starting technique.
If we look closely at Gays body angle following the initial push out of the blocks this looks to set up his poor starts. Rather than his torso being at an angle of around 40-50 deg and back being straight, his torso is slightly bent and crumpled.
What this means is that the unbelievable force he generates is not optimally transferred to horizontal speed because of his crumpled and therefore weaker core musculature.
If Tyson Gay nails the start on Friday night, floods or no floods, there will be a new world record holder. All comments welcome.
