Blake can now threaten the WR, his adjusted 9.70 would have been a 9.60 with max wind.
Not to mention that he would already have the 200 WR if he hadn't missed the start.
These performances are significant for many reasons, not the least of which is that the 5'10" sprinter is back, with a vengeance.
What needs to happen now? First of all, Bolt needs to go 9.4x, Blake is getting to be a pain in the azz.
Second, everybody else now has to start running 9.7x and 9.6x instead of 9.8x
I'm sorry, if Johnson, Greene, Carter, and now Blake can do what they have done, then anybody can do it.
I called Blake as the next one a few years back.
I'm now calling Ashmeade as the next one.
Gay's race in Lausanne was absolutely beautiful. He will be 9.7x next year. He runs with more range and grace than Blake.
Blake is a power runner, like Johnson, Greene, and Carter, putting lots of force down in the direction of the track. Guys like this have a better feel for the track for the instant their foot is in contact with it, and can actually effect a good, progressive push even at speed. Gatlin is also like that to some extent.
But those 4 guys run with power--power meaning that the "relaxed" phase of the legs and arms is not exactly relaxed, it is a powered recovery. Look at the Lausanne slow-mo, and you will see Gay and Blake, running at the same stride rate, at the same top speed, yet Gay's arms are swinging much farther--that is because he is running with relaxation in between power applications, whereas Blake is not. The relaxation is what results in the greater swing. Blake, on the other hand, is powering different directions in immediate succession, like those other 3 guys.
That is why Blake, like those other guys, will always have a better start/drive phase than will Gay, because the start and acceleration are quickly alternating power strokes, which lead to a smoothness of acceleration. Gay uses the relaxation phase, which is why he takes long strides at the start, with full recovery even on his first few strides. That will always be slower.
The disadvantage to power sprinting manifests at speed, because power sprinting is more energy-intensive. That is why guys like Gay shine in the last half of the race, because they have the reserves, and because the relaxation portion enables them to have greater joint angles, which not only gives them some stretch reflex, but also enables a slightly longer stride, preserving the same top speed with less effort.
Drugs make all the difference for a power sprinter in the last 30 or 40m of a 100m sprint. Power sprinting works, early in the race, like all those great indoor guys who suck in the 100, it is no good for late transition, or top speed, if you are clean, because you won't be able to sustain the required energy output, the rapidity of the cycling.
Look at Blake's arm swing, it is nowhere near what Gay's is. He is not running relaxed, he is absolutely muscling it. Fantastic.
What are the limits of this type of performance? Who knows.
What I do know is that Gay was very impressive. He would have gone 9.7x in this race if he hadn't come up so early, and his top-end form was absolutely beautiful, as was his late transition.
The most incredible comeback ever.
Blake? If he continues at this rate of increase, he will be 9.60 adjusted next year, which will be a new WR with just a little bit of wind. Where can he gain? In this race he looked tight to me in the last 40m, probably because he went ever so slightly too hard in the first 40m...if he could cut back just that tiny bit, losing maybe half a meter in the first 40, I think he might more than make it back in the second half.
Either that, or he could get another .10 just coming out of the blocks, of which I'm pretty sure. His RT was good in this race, so that helped him.
Sprinting is about to go where nobody thought possible. There will be 9.4's, and multiple guys running 9.6's and maybe 9.5's.
The message to everybody is "If Blake can do it, anybody can do it."
There are other Blakes around right now, like Bledman and Ashmeade, IMHO. We will see...
