A British sprint sensation
A thousandth of a second. That was all that separated Christian Coleman, the American sprinter, and Britain’s Reece Prescod on Saturday, said Sean Ingle in The Observer. Initially, it looked as if Prescod had pulled off a “sensational victory” in the Birmingham Grand Prix’s 100m final. But it turned out Coleman had “got the nudge” by the smallest of margins. Yet Prescod’s run was stunning: his time of 9.94 seconds, a personal best, put him in the top ten runners in the world this year.
To appreciate just how fast Prescod sprinted, “you only have to look at the men he ran past”, said Riath Al-samarrai in the Daily Mail. The Londoner beat American Noah Lyles, the fastest man in the world this year, as well as Yohan Blake, the Jamaican former world champion, and Zharnel Hughes, the British sprinter who was just crowned European champion. It was the “strongest field” assembled since Usain Bolt retired last year. And Prescod’s time was all the more remarkable considering his slow start: “he left his blocks as though he was dragging a sack of anvils”. The same thing had happened at the European Championships, where he also “recovered from last place” to come second. If he conquers that one weakness, he could get “far better”, shaving as much as 0.10 seconds off his times. That would be enough to put the 22-year-old in contention for the biggest competitions – including the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.