By Gary Smith, World-Track
These days whenever a youngster runs exceptionally well the first thing they do is compare themselves to Usain Bolt.
But do they know that a man such as he is rare and may never circle around again on this planet?
There is no doubt that a number of talented young sprinters are hitting the circuit, with the latest comparing themselves to the seemingly matchless Jamaican super star being Azerbaijan star Ramil Guliyev.
Guliyev, a finallist in the 200 metres at the IAAF World Championships has shown great talent while racing against the big boys in Berlin, last month and he is buzzing with confidence.
So confident he is, the teenager believes he is right on track for big improvements and is also ready to throw down the gauntlet to Bolt, the man who left him in his dust in a world record race last month.
"If you look at the results of Bolt when he was 19, there isn’t much difference between him and me," Guliyev, who owns personal bests of 10.08 for the 100m and 20.04 for the 200m, said on european-athletics.org.
Guliyev’s 200m performance makes him second best on the Junior all-time list behind Bolt’s record of 19.93seconds and he feels the World record holder is beatable.
"Well, maybe he was just a little faster, but I don’t think Bolt is invincible," said the man who among the leading candidates for the 2009 European Athlete of the Year Award.
"He’s obviously a strong athlete who has achieved tremendous things but he’s not supernatural. Even his 100m world record of 9.58, it’s a very tough mark to beat but it’s still obtainable eventually."
Bolt set world records of 9.58secs for the 100m and 19.19secs for the 200m when adding the world sprint double title to the crowns he won at the Olympic Games in Beijing last summer.
