Coleman leaves legend in wake to show future may be in safe hands

ONLY a few months before Michael Johnson stole the show at the Atlanta Olympics with that quite astonishing 200m world record — one that would stand until the emergence of a certain Jamaican superstar — Christian Coleman was born in the same American city.

He would graduate at the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Fayetteville, and then go to college at the University of Tennessee where he would quickly become the star of their track and field team.

He matched the collegiate record for the 60m and just missed out on the 200m mark. He also made something of a name for himself when John Ross claimed he was quicker than Usain Bolt after setting a new NFL scouting record for the 40-yard dash. Ross ran 4.22secs. Coleman responded to that by running 4.12.

Last night Coleman upstaged the wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals again, actually beating Bolt over the longer distance of 100m in a semi-final that somehow felt significant despite his failure to then deny Justin Gatlin a world title that was met with a sense of horror by a stunned crowd.

It was not just the manner in which Coleman streaked away from the finest sprinter we have ever seen. Or indeed the way he led Bolt again in the final only to tie up in the closing metres and succumb to a late surge for the line by a twiceconvicted drugs cheat.

It was the way he confidently glanced back at Bolt when the treble Olympic champion was trying to hide the fact that he was being beaten for the first time in four years by giving him an intimidatory stare.

It brought gasps of concern from athletics fans so desperate to see Bolt sign off in style but it was not entirely surprising even if it was only last year that Coleman was at the Rio Olympics as a junior member of the American relay squad.

The US collegiate record of 9.82secs that 21-year-old Coleman set in June was not only the ninth quickest in history but the fastest in the world this year.

And while Coleman is a diminutive figure compared to the towering Jamaican — a whole nine inches shorter — there is no denying this kid might just be the future of world sprinting.

Sure, he has not arrived on the international scene in the manner Bolt did at the same tender age back in 2008. Bolt, already a world junior record holder over 200m with a time of 19.93 that he actually ran at 17, set a new world record of 9.72 in New York and then lowered it to 9.69 at the Beijing Olympics the following month.

He would go faster still in Berlin a year later, and that time of 9.58 is one that will probably remain beyond the reach of Coleman and his contemporaries for a good while yet. ‘Forever Faster’ was the slogan on Bolt’s tracksuit top last night and it might just turn out to be true in his case.

It would be some achievement if anyone manages to secure the second or third fastest times in history, given that they too belong to Bolt (Yohan Blake’s 9.69 is joint third).

But in Coleman, the sport at least has another precociously gifted young speed merchant. Second last night, he looks a sure bet to improve on that.