Stuttgart, Germany - Simply put, Tyson Gay was stunned after his dominating 19.68 performance in the 200 metres at Stuttgart’s Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.

“This is incredible,” the 24-year-old American said, soon after equalling Namibia’s legendary Frank Fredericks as the third fastest to ever cover the distance. “Going into this race, I didn’t think I was going to run 19.6. I had no idea what I was going to run. It was just really a surprise to me.”

But with the record Gay has put together this season, he should no longer be surprised. In June he clocked 19.70 to finish behind Xavier Carter’s breakthrough 19.63, and has since produced 19.78 and 19.84 victories in Brussels and London. In the meantime, he’s lowered his personal best in the 100 to 9.84, and has begun seriously challenging co-World record holder Asafa Powell over the short dash. After Stuttgart, Gay owns four of the year's five fastest performances, and performances No. 4 and 5 on the all-time lists. The only other sprinter to twice run 19.70 or faster is World record holder Michael Johnson.

Analyzing his race, Gay said, “My start was okay, but I ran a real good curve. I stumbled a little bit coming out of the blocks, so that made me react even faster.”

Off the turn, he said he felt the presence of his training partner, Wallace Spearmon. “I could hear him breathing, so that made me run even harder.” Spearmon, last year’s silver medallist at the World Championships in Helsinki, lowered his career best to 19.88 to finish second.

But besides the pressure from Spearmon, whom he still refers to as his 'teammate', Gay said the wildly enthusiastic crowd of nearly 30,000 spurred him on as well. Gay admitted that he’d never experienced such crowd support and enthusiasm before.

“I’ve never had that many people cheer for me, ever,” Gay said, still relishing the moment.“ I won the races in London and Brussels, but the crowd here, they just clapped for me, screamed for me. And during the race I’ve never head a crowd scream that loud. I thought something had happened. I thought that my teammate was coming up on me, and it made me kind of nervous.”

Gay said that despite his breakout international year over the half lap, he doesn’t plan on focusing all his attentions to just one event.

“I want to be known as a well rounded sprinter,” he said. “Someone like Frankie Fredericks, who’s a tremendous sprinter in several events. Some people compare me to him because I can run both, and that’s who I’m trying to look up to.”

Fredericks, who won a World title in the event in the same stadium in 1993, had high praise for Gay as well.

“I knew he could do something very special today,” said Fredericks, whose 19.68 from the 1996 Olympic Games Gay had equalled. “I was predicting maybe 19.69 or 19.70,” he added, laughing. “Then when I saw the 19.68 I was very, very happy.”

Fredericks also welcomed the recent upsurge in the event which this year has seen a resurgence to harken back to the days of his rivalry with Johnson more than a decade ago.

“I think the 200 metres over the past few years has been suffering for talent,” Fredericks, who retired after the 2004 Olympics, noted. “But I think now we can see that we have four young men (Gay, Spearmon, Carter, and Jamaican Usain Bolt) who are very talented. And that pushes everyone. I think that we are going through an exciting time. And maybe next year we can go to 19.5s, and then 19.3s and even 19.2s.”

For his part, Gay said even more was necessary to challenge Johnson’s 19.32 World record. 

“To be honest, for me to get close to the World record I need more help. I think I need Frankie to come back and give it one more chance.” Following up with a more serious note, Gay said that he simply believes that now that several of his generation are beginning to produce very fast performances, they have no choice but to follow through and race often.

“I know next year we’re all going to train even harder, Wallace and I, Xavier. And I don’t want any ducking. None of that ‘I need more money.’ No ducking. I want to race the best every time I step on the track. I want to continue to win some and lose some and just get better each time.”

Next up is the 100 at the World Cup in Athens next weekend, and a spot on the U.S. 4x100 relay squad. And for next year, he said, “I just want to continue to compete in both sprints, and continue to be competitive in both.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF