Kerley, Bracy, Bromell and Coleman want the treble to forget the Olympics. His rivals, Jacobs or De Grasse, arrive hit
The fastest men take off and the planet is silent, although Usain Bolt is no longer making a smile during the silence. the 100 meters, One of the queen events of the World Cup will be held this morning (semi-finals at 03:00, the final at 04:50) without idols, but with a dedicated country. For the United States it is a historic mission. After the retirement of the best sprinter of all time, the USA hoped to recover the hegemony that it maintained from Jesse Owens to Bob Hayes, from Carl Lewis to Maurice Green and the victory of the Italian Marcell Jacobs in the Tokyo Olympics hurt, hurt a lot. For this reason, in his first World Cup at home he has selected an army; Pride must be restored.
Fred Kerley, Marvin Bracy, Trayvon Bromell and Christian Coleman, four men, all alike, all born in the South, all between 26 and 28 years old, all trained in American football and all with studs on their résumés. The objective: hog the podium. “If someone bets against us that we will finish first, second and third, they are crazy,” boasts Bromell and the phrase, so indiscreet, so yankee, represents both the spirit of the quartet and Bromell’s own history.
Because Bromell was the next big thing and then it was nothing because of a very serious injury to the Achilles tendon in 2017. Because, like Bromell, all the members of the team have already had various experiences, detours on the road. Coleman, the reigning champion, was sanctioned for missing three doping controls. Bracy, the underdog, tried to make it to the NFL – like two of his cousins - and failed. And Kerley, the favorite, the best this year, dedicated a large part of his career to the 400 meters, where he did, yes, but not as much as he is doing in the hm.
Now, after all, the four are in their prime, they are going for it all, what’s more, they have already lowered this season the 9.90 seconds, a time at reach of very few. “9.76? It seems slow to me,” Kerley assured in the preview about his mark, the best of this course, before proclaiming that he is capable of going below 9.60 seconds, that is, breaking the record for Bolt. A bravado, like the ambition of the triplet of medals, which does not have to be so. Indeed, in recent Trials Americans, Kerley seemed capable of achieving a historical record and, indeed, it would be difficult for anyone to surpass the Yankee quartet.
The situation of his adversaries also favors him. The Jamaican team is in full rebuilding after Bolt’s retirement with the very veteran Yohan Blake as the leader and the very young Oblique Seville as the project. And the two great rivals, those who they stole the glory at the Tokyo Games, Jacobs in the 100 meters and the Canadian Andr De Grasse in the 200 meters, arrive with doubts after having suffered physical problems never fully revealed.
In fact, the Jacobs case is especially mysterious. This same Friday, before the preliminary series last morning, she undergoes a long physiotherapy session in the basement of Hamilton Hall, one of the buildings on the University of Oregon campus that welcomes athletes. After his Olympic exhibition, his victory in the 60 meters of the Indoor World Championship invited us to think about the beginning of an era dominated by him, but an unspecified injury to his quadriceps is weighing him down this summer. Despite being announced in several appointments, this year he had only run the 100 meters four times and on only one occasion he fell below 10 seconds. He had to be the main adversary of his, but apparently everything is set for the success of the United States and its army of wounded sprinters.
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