Usain Bolt – The Making of a 100m World Record Holder
Analysis of Usain Bolt’s world-record 100 metres run in New York on May 31, showed that he covered the distance in only 41.5 strides. On average, the world’s best sprinters cover the distance in about 45 strides.
What is remarkable is that when he began to train with Glen Mills, almost four years ago, Bolt would have completed the event using even fewer strides, but he would have been nowhere close to Asafa Powell’s world record.
When Mills took over as Bolt’s coach, he immediately recognised that there were significant flaws in the youngster’s technique. It was easy enough for the man, who has coached some of Jamaica’s best contemporary sprinters from high school to the international level.
Others transformed
Some of his charges have included Camperdown High School greats Leroy Reid and Carey Johnson, as well as Olympian Raymond Stewart. He also transformed Vincentian Kim Collins from an average performer into the Commonwealth Games and World Champion he is today.
To hear Mills talk about Bolt’s technical flaws, it would be hard to imagine that the 21-year-old world record holder had actually run the 200 metres in 19.93 seconds at age 16. He is still the only athlete to run that fast at that age.
Read the rest of this story at the Jamacia Gleaner
