World champion Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100m of all-time to win the United States Olympic trials on Sunday, a wind-assisted 9,68 seconds.
The victory put Gay into his first US Olympic team but the wind speed of 4,1m per second deprived the 25-year-old of a world record.
Only marks set with assisting winds of two metres per second or less can be considered for record purposes.
”The time really meant a lot because that’s the time that [co-coach Jon] Drummond has been instilling in my head for a long time, that I could run 9,6,” Gay told reporters.
”I didn’t really care what the wind was.”
Gay showed little emotion at the end of the race.
”But inside I was happy,” he said.
Jamaican Usain Bolt holds the world record of 9,72 seconds. The previous best time under any conditions was a wind-assisted 9,69 seconds by Obadele Thompson of Barbados in 1996.
Gay, who ran a national record 9,77 seconds on Saturday, made a solid start and by 40m was in complete control of the race.
The double world champion will attempt to make the US team in the 200m later this week with the first round on Friday.
Former collegiate champion Walter Dix finished second in 9,80 seconds with Darvis Patton third in 9,84 seconds. Both made the US team. – Reuters