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Kishane Thompson has expressed admiration for the high standards Usain Bolt set in sprinting that churned out a generation of other sprinters that clocked sub 9.8 speeds.
Jamaican sprinting prodigy Kishane Thompson has expressed his admiration for the exceptional standards set by Usain Bolt and his contemporaries, calling their achievements both awe-inspiring and near-impossible to replicate.
Thompson, who is rising in the ranks of global sprinting, spoke openly about how Bolt, along with sprint legends like Asafa Powell, Justin Gatlin, and Tyson Gay, defined a golden era of sprinting.
During his prime, Bolt set a world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100 meters at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, a time that many consider untouchable.
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21:00 - 09.09.2024
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This performance, coupled with sub-9.7-second races by the likes of Gay and Powell, set a benchmark that has been nearly impossible for the current crop of sprinters to match. The fastest times in recent years, recorded by Fred Kerley, Christian Coleman, and Trayvon Bromell, hover around 9.76 seconds — still remarkable, but shy of the blistering speeds of the previous generation.
In a conversation with the media before the Olympic games, Thompson marveled at how Bolt and his peers could even ease up towards the finish line and still clock incredible times.
"A lot, man. Those men were like, one would say 'beasts,' but that is an understatement in my eyes because at one point, those guys were running four rounds, man," Thompson shared, reflecting on the high standards set by the sprinting legends.
"They weren’t just fast; they knew they were fast but could control their speed at the snap of their fingers. They could slow down from like 50 meters and still run 9.8s or 9.89s, so the standards they have set are so high."
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05:30 - 05.09.2024
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Thompson’s sentiments align with what Justin Gatlin recently shared on his Ready Set Go podcast. Gatlin, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and one of Bolt’s fiercest competitors, explained how the Jamaican superstar raised the bar for sprinting to unprecedented levels.
He also praised Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone for setting similarly high standards in the women’s track world, comparing her influence to Bolt's.
"It bred a whole different generation of athletes. No disrespect to Noah [Lyles] and any other athlete, but 9.79 (winning time at the Paris Olympics in 2024) would have gotten you third in 2012," Gatlin’s co-host Rodney Green added, underscoring how Bolt’s dominance pushed athletes to reach new heights.
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Thompson agrees with this perspective, pointing out that the era defined by Bolt, Powell, Gatlin, and Gay left a lasting impact, setting the pace for future sprinters.
The Jamaican's admiration for these legends is a testament to their lasting influence on the world of athletics, even as the next generation, including Thompson himself, continues to rise.
With a promising career ahead, Thompson’s acknowledgment of the lofty standards set by the likes of Bolt suggests that he, too, is driven to push his limits and contribute to the legacy of sprinting excellence established by the generation before him.
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