World Best Sprinter, Usain Bolt, Gone for the Season
Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, may be gone for the season. The planets fastest sprinter is cutting his season short due to a lower back injury.
Ricky Simms, Bolt’s manager, sent an email stating that the world record holder in both the 100 and 200 meters is going in for treatment and will be skipping the IAAF Diamond League track and field meets in Zurich next week the Brussels meet at the end of August.
Bolt was undefeated in two years of individual competition until dropping a 100 meter race to American sprinter, Tyson Gay in Stockholm. The American ran a 9.84 second race with Bolt clocking in at 9.97.
Bolt, who stands at 6 feet 5 inches, is the Tiger Woods of professional track and field bringing in millions of spectators to watch with interest the “fastest man in the world.”
Manager Simms is already planning Bolt’s return to the track during the 2011 season.
World’s Fastest: Bolt, Powell and Gay
WORLD’S BEST SPRINTERS, BOLT, POWELL & GAY
How do they do it? Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, along with American Tyson Gay are the fastest men on the planet.
Both Bolt and Powell share the fastest time this year of 9.82 seconds with Bolt being the World Record holder in the 100 meters.
Bolt’s 9.82 seconds came on July 9th during competition in Lausanne, Switzerland, while Powell hit that time on June 10th during a meet in Rome.
Powell is the last person to have beaten the “Lightning Bolt” in the 100, during a meet in 2008 in Stockholm. Bolt has improved considerably since his last defeat and now is the 100 and 200 meter World Champion.
Outside of Bolt, Powell and Gay is French national champion, Christophe Lemaitre, who set a personal best time in the 100 of 9.98 seconds in front of his home crowd.
In 2009 Bolt set a French record by clocking 9.79 seconds, but was way off his World Record of 9.58 seconds.
Naturally, a meet with Bolt, Powell, Gay and Lemaitre would be a track & field fans dream come true. But how does a tiny country of Jamaica produce two of the world’s best sprinters?
World’s Top 3 Male Track & Field Athletes for 2010
1) USAIN BOLT – JAMAICA – 100 & 200
Bolt is the World Record holder in both the 100 & 200 meter races. He continues to dominate on the world scene most recently winning in Shanghai.
Bolt holds world and Olympic records in both the 100 and 200 meters, with time of 9.58 seconds and 19.30 seconds respectively. He is the first man in history to beak both world records at one Olympics and the first man to win both the 100 and 200 meter events at the same Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984.
2) TYSON GAY – USA – 100
Career Highlights: 2009 World Outdoor 100m silver medalist; 2007 World Outdoor 100m, 200m champion and 4x100m gold medalist; 2007 Visa Outdoor champion; 3-time USA 100m champion (2006-2008); 2005 USA 200m champion; 2004 NCAA 100m champion; 2002 JUCO 100m champion; 2004 SEC 100m, 200m, 4x100m champion; 2007 & 2009 Jesse Owens Award winner
3) EZEKIEL KEMBOI – KENYA – 3K STEEPLECHASE
Personal best 3,000m Steeplechase: 8:02.49 (2003)
Career highlights
2002 – 2nd, Commonwealth Games, Manchester
2003 – 2nd, World Championships, Paris
2003 – 1st, All Africa Games, Abuja
2004 – 1st, Olympic Games, Athens
2005 – 2nd, World Championships, Helsinki
2006 – 1st, Commonwealth Games, Melbourne
2010 | 8:06.28 | Doha | 14/05/2010 | ||
2009 | 7:58.85 | Doha | 08/05/2009 | ||
2008 | 8:09.25 | Athína (Olympic Stadium) | 13/07/2008 | ||
2007 | 8:05.50 | Athína (Olympic Stadium) | 02/07/2007 |
Worlds Fastest Sprinters in 2009: Richards & Bolt
Sanya Richards:
World Champion, 400m (’09) | |
– | American Record Holder~400m dash 48.70sec |
– | Most sub-50 400meter races in history |
– | 2-time Olympic 4x400m gold medalist and 400m bronze medalist (’04, ’08) |
– | 5-time USA Outdoor Champion (’03, ’05, ’06, ’08, ’09); |
– | 2-time World Outdoor 4x400m gold medalist (’05, ’07) |
– | IAAF World Athlete of the Year and Jesse Owens Award winner (2006) |
– | World Outdoor silver medalist (2005)) |
– | Visa Champion and Humanitarian Athlete of the Year (2005)) |
Usain Bolt
Personal bests
Event | Time (seconds) | Venue | Date | Records | Notes |
100 metres | 9.58 | Berlin, Germany | 16 August 2009 | Also shares the second fastest time of 9.69 with Tyson Gay. Usain’s 9.69 set the Olympic record in 2008. | |
150 metres | 14.35 | Manchester, United Kingdom | 17 May 2009 | World best[147] | He ran the last 100 m in 8.70, the fastest ever recorded time over a 100 m distance. |
200 metres | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | Also holds the second fastest time with 19.30, which is the Olympic Record. | |
400 metres | 45.28[7] | Kingston, Jamaica | 5 May 2007 | ||
4 x 100 metres relay | 37.10 | Beijing, China | 22 August 2008 | Shared with Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. Also holds the second fastest time with 37.31. |
Top 20 Male Performances at World Track & Field Championships

Long jump champion, Dwight Phillips
All-athletics.com has ranked the top 20 male performaces at the IAAF World Championship Track & Field Meet from Berlin.
Usain Bolt | 100m |
Usain Bolt | 200m |
Jamaica | 4x100m |
Tyson Gay | 100m |
Ezekiel Kemboi | 3000mSC |
Kenenisa Bekele | 10000m |
Abel Kirui | Marathon |
Christian Cantwell | Shot Put |
Lashawn Merritt | 400m |
Dwight Phillips | Long Jump |
Phillips Idowu | Triple Jump |
Sergey Kirdyapkin | 50km Walk |
Trey Hardee | Decathlon |
Robert Harting | Discus |
Kerron Clement | 400m Hurdles |
Steven Hooker | Pole Vault |
Ryan Braithwaite | 110m Hurdles |
Valeriy Borchin | 20km Walk |
Trinidad and Tobago | 4x100m |
Alonso Edwards | 200m |
Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong | 3000mSC |
USA | 4x400m |