Longtime statistician/author Dale Harder of Castro Valley, California, says that the best men’s world record is in the javelin, not the 100 or 200. His take on the subject:
Jan Zelezny’s JT of 323’1 (98.48m) is actually the best mark of all time based on empirical results. No one else has come within 5% of him. Indeed, multiplying his WR x .95 results in 306’11 (93.56m). The javelin throw is the only event to have just one person higher than the 95% level.
However, to fairly compare most field events with runs (the high jump and pole vault are exceptions which are explained below) you would probably think that you would divide running WRs by .95 to get results to fairly compare with field event marks. But, if you divide 9.58 (Bolt’s 100m WR) by .95 you get 10.08 (rounded off) and roughly 150 men have bettered that mark.
Usain Bolt ended his career with eight Olympic gold medals, including a triple 100m and 200m sprint double at the Games to go with his 11 World Athletics Championships titles.
Since the departure of the sprint legend in 2017 after the World Championships, Jamaica has failed to win a global sprint medal on the men’s side and he continues to encourage the young local sprinters to get serious about building back the sprint factory tradition.
There are, however, no such issues on the women’s as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who recently won a five world 100m title, double-double Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson, are continuing the longevity laid down by the likes of Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, and Grace Jackson, among others before them.
Jamaica also has a very talented group of young sprinters coming up including Briana Williams, Kemba Nelson, Tia and Tina Clayton, and Brianna Lyston.
