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Preamble
こんにちは – kon’nichiwa – and welcome to the World Athletics Championships – night two!
In the summer of 1991, Toyko hosted this same competition, and to this day it stands as one of the greats, featuring perhaps the greatest men’s 100m race ever run. With Leroy Burrell looking set for victory, Carl Lewis came from nowhere, on his literal blind side – his right eye is legally so – dipping for a finish that took some time to unravel.
In the event, Lewis took gold by 0.02s, breaking the world record in the process, while Burrell also improved on his pre-existing mark; Dennis Mitchell, more on whom later, snaffled bronze. The overwhelming sense was that this was most significant sporting event in the world, the entire planet captivated.
Things have changed since then, Usain Bolt putting the leading mark so far out of sight as to be almost invisible; we are no longer inspired by watching the fastest humans ever to sprint the earth. On the other hand, though, Kishane Thompson and Noah Lyles could barely be split at the Olympics and since then, Oblique Seville has established himself as a serious rival, while Letsile Tebogo and Kenny Bednarek remain threats. Tonight’s final mightn’t be epochal, but it will be brilliant.
Similar is so in the women’s competition. The fastest runner on paper, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, is well past her best, so too Shericka Jackson and perhaps also Sha’Carri Richardson – who might still fancy herself to bring it home. More likely, though, the gold will be contested by Julien Alfred, the Olympic champ, and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, easily the fastest in the world this year – or, to put things another way, we’re in for a treat.
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