Usain Bolt is still the star. The 39-year-old has not been a sprinter for several years, which does not mean that the Jamaican cannot be offered a civil stage before the World Championships in Tokyo. A sponsor had invited to the press round with Bolt in Tokyo, tens of international media representatives followed, and they were given a small indication of the latest technologies: With today’s shoe models, Usain Bolt would have managed a time of 9.42 seconds in his world record over 100 meters over 100 meters, scientists calculated. Is Bolt worried about what could do today’s generation of sprinter with its record and fast soles? “No, I’m not,” he said, “I am currently not seeing anything you can do to break the record.”
A Usain Bolt is not worried, and there is currently little reason for this despite some tinkering. His world records over 100 and 200 meters – now already 16 years old – have not so far been in danger. Amazing in a world of jumps in performance. Eight years after his resignation, athletics still searches for a draft horse, as Bolt was one: easy, light, often invincible. Today’s generation of sprinter is different. However, this does not mean that the title fight over 100 meters, which will be held in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium this Sunday, would therefore be less exciting: Olympic champion Noah Lyles has had a mixed season, there are some that their chance for World Cup gold.
:Timetable of the 2025 Athletics World Cup in Tokyo
Four years after the Olympic Games, the athletics elite comes back to Tokyo. All decisions of the 2025 Athletics World Cup at an overview.
The fastest man in Paris is currently only the number twelve in the world, with 9.90 seconds. It was only in mid-July that the American joined the summer season after an injury, only four competitions about the short sprint distance has completed Lyles since then. “I love to run and take part in competitions. I have never had such a season with so few races,” he says. Despite everything, he has not lost his self -confidence. “I know that something big will happen. My body shows me that it gets used to the speed,” he said at the end of August at the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow, Poland. There, however, he was defeated by the man who stuck to his heels first: Kishane Thompson from Jamaica.
Jamaicas Thompson travels with the fastest time of the year
In Paris last year, Thompson sniffed the Olympic victory, at the same time as Lyles, the 24-year-old was shot about the finish line. Long moments passed when the whole stadium did not know who won the race. The computer finally spat an advantage of 0.005 seconds for Noah Lyles, 9.784 to 9.789 seconds, it was the scarce finale in history. “I’m a bit disappointed, but at the same time I’m happy,” said Thompson at the time. It was his first international medal ever.
Well, a year later, Thompson is the man who came to Tokyo at the fastest time of the year. In June he managed a run at the Jamaican championships that amazed the sprint enthusiasts: 9.75 seconds, and no sprinter had offered such a race for ten years. The six -fastest time ever, better than Lyles ever ran (9.79). So is Thompson currently the fastest man in the world? “To be honest, I can do it much better,” said Thompson after his run. And he probably said that: a man for Trash Talk he is not.
In terms of character, the Jamaican and Noah Lyles could hardly be apart. Lyles returns to the outside, speaks openly about the diseases that have accompanied him since his youth. About asthma, ADHD and the depression that he has to cope with again and again. Little is known about Thompson, except that he lost his father in 2024. He is not happy to be the focus. So there is something for all tastes when it comes to the medals in Tokyo: the showman Lyles likes to play with the audience, Thompson focuses on sport.
In Australia everyone looks at a 17-year-old
And there are others who would like to claim the title of the fastest man in the world: Lyles’ teammate Kenneth Bednarek, at Olympia in Tokyo and Paris, second over the 200 meters and in close rivalry with Lyles, or Jamaicas Oblique Seville, who left Lyles twice this year in the Diamond League. The duel between Jamaica and the USA will determine the 100 meters in Tokyo.
Over the twice distance, however, the eyes not only fall on the first medal candidates, but also to a 17-year-old: the Australian Gout Gout released the first Bolt comparisons this year with a time of 20.02 seconds (like three years ago by the American Erriyon Knighton, who has now been from the International Sports Court of CAS for four years was blocked). In Tokyo, Gout measures the big ones for the first time. The Australian is already traded in Brisbane as an Olympic champion for home games in 2032 at home. “He is very talented with the times he runs and he does it really well,” Bolt praised him in Tokyo. But young people can convert in World Cup or Olympic medals, it is something else. “You have to have the right coach, the right people around you and be focused enough.”
A valuable tip that you as a young sprinter can simply take with you with new high-tech shoes.
