By Gary Smith, World-Track
BERLIN — Usain Bolt floated away from the chasing pack on a fast track in Beijing to break two world records at the Olympic Games last summer and his coach Glen Mills believes the Jamaican is well on course to deliver something magical again in Berlin.
Bolt’s form was second to none last summer and the confidence he brought to the starting line grew with every stride. There were many who believed that the 22-year-old’s performances were aided by the quick track, but Mills says even if the Berlin surface is not as fast, his pupil is in the sort of shape that will see him producing more phenomenal times.
"I’ve never seen the track at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and I don’t think it is as fast as the one in Beijing, but that may not matter because right now [Bolt’s] in great shape and he’s ready," Mills told the Jamaica Observer.
"I’m very happy with his present condition at this time (although) we had a couple ‘ups and down’.
"We started late due to his post Beijing commitments and then we had the problem with his accident (April 29), but he has really come on well and he’s in great shape and I’m confident that he will emulate what he did in Beijing," Mills added.
At the Olympics last summer, Bolt set two individual world records – 9.69 seconds in the 100 metres and 19.30 seconds in the 200 metres — prior to running the third leg on the Jamaican world record breaking 4x100m relay team that raced to 37.10 seconds.
Despite racing in appalling conditions for most of his outing this season, Bolt managed to clock seasonal best times of 9.79 and 19.59 – these performances are just steps behind American Tyson Gay’s world-leading marks of 9.77 and 19.58 – accomplished in ideal sprinting conditions.
Bolt had opened his international campaign in May with a world record 150m time of 14.35 in Manchester, following a motor vehicle accident.
Bolt will have to run faster than 9.68 to win the 100 meter dash. He won’t be able to stop running at the 75 meter mark of the 100 meter dash as he did in the olympics.
I don’t know what Mike is thinking but Tyson 9.68 was with a hurricane behind him and he couldn’t recover in time for the next day. Saying Bolt has to run a world record to win is naive at best. Gay fastest time is 9.77, do you expect a 26 going 27 year old to drop close to .1 second in one year? Let me see it happen first, Tyson has one of the best coach of all time coaching him; I can’t think of anything was missing in his training that will cause his improvement to be so drastic, especially in a non-olympic year.