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News02 Feb 1998


Maurice Greene equals 60m indoors world record mark

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6.41Maurice Greene equals 60m indoors world record mark
Maurice Greene (USA) has added some sprint to an indoor season which, starting with the new world record in the 3000m of Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie (who gave another splendid show the other evening in the 1500m with a time of 3:31.76, just 58 hundredths off Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record mark), is ever more spectacular. Sunday evening, in a packed Stuttgart indoor arena, the American burnt up the track, and his compatriot Jon Drummond, with a time of 6.41, equalling the world record set in Madrid by Andre Cason on 14 February 1992.

Notwithstanding the outstanding talent of the 100m world champion, his mark in Stuttgart is worthy of further comments: firstly, Greene is not just a phenomenon, but also a serious professional. His success in Athens has led him to train still more seriously and to adhere to a still stricter regime, if that be possible; secondly, this 24 year old athlete still has considerable room for improvement and his remarks on Sunday evening: "Next summer I will run the 100m in 9.76…" should not be taken lightly; thirdly, Greene’s psychological qualities of concentration and control are, perhaps, still more surprising than his physical attributes. He is still able to reason when producing the maxim flow of adrenaline.

Sunday’s race in Stuttgart was particularly noteworthy from this point of view. Greene came out of the starting blocks a hairsbreadth ahead of Drummond and you could see the difference in the sprint styles of the two in the first 10-20 metres of acceleration: Greene almost squatting, whilst Drummond was up with his chest out. In the speed phase of the race - which is obviously short in a 60m sprint - Greene still managed to gain a few more centimetres over Drummond and looking as fast as he did in Athens ’97.

And, in fact, he was just as fast. He crossed the 60m line, in the World Championships in 6.404, with a peak velocity of 11.87m/second at 58.10m from the start. On Sunday evening, in Stuttgart, Greene repeated this impressive performance.

It was especially impressive in this instance because, indoors, there is no wind assistance (in Athens it was only the hint of a breeze anyway -0.2m/sec.), but also because the winter is not the best season for sprinters. Ben Johnson, for example, who ran 6.41 to win the 60m in the world indoor championships in Indianapolis (1987), ran through the 60m mark in 6.33 in the 100m finals in the Seoul Olympics (crossing the finish line in 9.79 with a 1.1m/sec tailwind).

Though it may not be necessary - allowing for a theoretically perfect distribution of effort - to be so fast at 60m in order to get below 9.80 in the 100m, it is nonetheless clear that Maurice Greene will still have to improve somewhat. And this pupil of Jon Smith may well make this improvement already tomorrow in Madrid, where he will be running on a track which is considered to be fast and which was the stage, six years ago, for Andre Cason’s world record mark.

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