Jamaican naturalized Switzerland, Alex Wilson signed a new European record of 100m Sunday during a confidential meeting organized in the State of Georgia, in the United States. A record that challenges.
No one believes it. Not even the main interested party. ” My time ? I didn’t believe it on Sunday, and I still don’t believe it. I asked the timekeeper, he told me 9 ″ 84. I am still shocked ! In the columns of the Berner Zeitung, Monday, the day after his improbable performance on the 100m of the US meeting in Marietta, not far from Atlanta, Alex Wilson readily admits his disbelief. At 30, the Swiss athlete from Jamaica (he was naturalized in 2010) was not really scheduled to win the European record in the specialty.
Flanked by an intermediate size (1m82 for 78kg) and not the sharpest, Alex Wilson therefore ran in 9 ″ 84 this Sunday – two hundredths faster than the previous continental record held by the Portuguese Francis Obikwelu and the French Jimmy Vicaut. With the key an exploded personal best (10 ″ 08 so far) and a time incomparable with what he had achieved this year at the best of his form (10 ″ 38). All the more surprising that the person concerned bowed over 200m in stride, flying over the race in 19 ″ 89 (when his best time this season was 20 ″ 64).
Exploit or error?
« I was coming out of good workouts, and I knew the track fast. I also had the advantage of having almost two meters of favorable wind (+1.9 m / s, editor’s note) ”, the Helvète wants to be convinced. ” I’m still trying to land, it’s all hard to figure out, recognizes his coach, Clarence Callender, quoted by L’Equipe. Alex sent me his lap times on Sunday after his race, over 100m and 200m. I did not understand. I wonder, you wonder, he wonders. Who wouldn’t? I saw the images, unfortunately poorly filmed, of his race. He’s off to a very good start, then it’s hard to see what’s going on. Considering the difference with his last performances, I understand the astonishment… »
Faced with the performance (the third in the world sprint this year), some are surprised, then, when others cry deception or error. An organization ensured by amateurs, no start control system, age classes for the various scheduled races (Wilson was running there with the over 30s) and above all no or few usable images of the famous 100m; all elements which should push the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics) to reconsider the approval of this European record.
« Lemaître, Bromell… All these athletes who have achieved great performances in their careers, we see them arriving. There is a progression. There is an explosion. You don’t go 5 meters away from your best performance overnight “, Underlines in the pages of the Parisian the former trainer of Jimmy Vicaut, Guy Ontanon. Beyond the false start, very likely given the position of the athletes facing the starter, the technician leans for a ” electronic system failure “. The verdict of international bodies is expected in the coming days.
9.84 is Swiss precision? How can Alex Wilson himself believe in this performance that came out of nowhere? it remains very strange !!! pic.twitter.com/lPmQr8cwm2
– TeamOntanon (@guy_ontanon) July 19, 2021
