I hope everyone is enjoying coverage of the World Championships, even with the 13-hour time difference and the need to avoid finding out the results before watching the races long after they happened.
I didn't want to write about the WC's every day of the week, but I've been thinking about the out-of-this-world performance on one athlete that to my mind stands above everything else I have seen or read about.
On August 31, 21-year-old American Allyson Felix ran 21.81 to win the 200 meters. It was the first legal sub-22 performance in 8 years. The 0.53 margin of victory was the largest EVER in the world championships, and hasn't been equaled in an Olympic final since 1948. If Bernard Lagat had won the men's 1500m by the same percentage margin, he would have been over five seconds and a third of the straightway ahead of the field.
Only 21, and Felix wants to make her mark in the 100m and 400m, too. I don't know about the 100, but she has already run sub-50 for 400m and is scheduled to compete as part the U.S. 4x400 relay. Watching her pull away from the entire field in the 200, it seemed obvious that she has tremendous combination of speed and strength. Scary.
I know that Jeremy Wariner makes running 43.5 look easy, and I don't want to slight Tyson Gay, who just ran the fastest 100/200 double in history, but I still feel that Felix dominated her event more thoroughly, and showed an immense potential as yet unrealized.
Allyson Felix -- the Tiger Woods of women's sprinting?
Women's 200m Final
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I got to interview Felix this year - she's really really really fast and still hasn't remotely found her ceiling yet. When the dust settles she will be one of the best sprinters ever. It is not outlandish to think she has a shot at both the 200m and 400m records.
The person who gets screwed is Sanya Richards. I hope she is ready to be second fiddle . . . . despite setting the 400m AR last year.
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