Go back a few days and try to remember what you did on the 16th of May this year. Nothing special, just a regular day? Well, Tyson Gay – an American track and field sprinter – definitely doesn’t have the same answer for us, because in that day he set a new world record. Yea, you heard us right. For 44 years, the straightline 200m world record was being held by Tommie Smith (USA) with 19,5 seconds. In Manchester, May 16th 2010, Tyson broke it by 0.09 seconds, taking it to 19.41s. Smith was there and saw it all happen from the tribune.
The other competitors – Rion Pierre (UK), Kim Collins (Saint Kitts and Nevis) and Paul Hession (Irland) – were still far away from Gay’s performance. You can watch how it all happened right here:
Other interesting facts about Gay: he’s the second fastest sprinter in the 100m with 9.69s, and third fastest 200m runner with his 19.58s, both right after Usain Bolt – 9.58 s/19.19 s. So if your mind goes straight to only two men out of 2,500 athletes participating at the 12th World Championships, you might just be forgiven.
