US Tyson Gay Runs the 100m Best Time of the Year
Usain Bolt surely got a bit concerned to find out about Gay’s Friday performance at the Aviva Grand Prix in Crystal Palace, Great Britain, where the American athlete ran the fastest time of the year at 100m. Great shaped, Tyson Gay stopped the clock at 9.78 to bring his third victory in Crystal Palace and the second best time run in Great Britain. However, Gay ran just 0.09 seconds from his personal best of 9.69 clocked at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in September last year. “I feel good, I prayed that I would get to the race healthy and I did.”
“I had to make sure I stayed warm because it’s been getting cold. It’s been a good few weeks for me – I’ve got a great team around me and they must take some credit.” American Bernard Lagat overcame double European champion Mo Farah to win the 3000m. The 35-year-old declared after the race he didn’t want but got an improved run after three weeks of pause. “My plan was just to hang back a little bit because I knew I hadn’t raced in three weeks. I wanted to see how I felt, and I felt good. Mo is a great athlete and I knew he was running strongly and I’m glad I was able to run with him really well today.” Tyson Gay has collected three gold medals in his career at the Osaka Games in 2007 where he crossed first the line at the 100m, 200m and 4×100 relay. He also got silver at the same 100m last year in Berlin. However, Gay got a bit lucky considering that Jamaican Usain Bolt, who still holds the best time at 100m ever, is out of the season due to a back injury he suffered few weeks ago.
According to Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms, the 23-year-old athlete should rest a bit longer in order to recover 100 percent for the next season. “With a view to his future career we believe further treatment to loosen his back followed by a period of rest will be in his best interest,” while Bolt declared he’s very disappointed he won’t be able to face Gay and Powell this year. “I am very disappointed to miss two of the top meetings on the circuit — Zurich and Brussels – but trust that it is better for me not to take any risks this year. 2011 and 2012 are very important championship years and I hope to be back fully fit and healthy.”
