Eight athletes post sub-10 second 100-meter dash in historic first
Back in 1968, Jim Hines made international news as the first man to ever finish the 100-meter dash in under 10 seconds officially.
Nowadays, that feat may just be enough to avoid last place.
A group of eight men competing in the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday collectively sped past the 10-second mark in a historic first for the track world. Canada's Andre de Grasse took the win, while Americans Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker finished in second and third respectively. The only member of the field to not finish in under 10 seconds was Cravon Gillespie at 10.09 seconds.
First time in history that eight men have gone sub-10 for 100m in any conditions. pic.twitter.com/ThodrwqM7I
— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) August 21, 2021
Both de Grasse's and Kerley's time were both faster than the 9.80 seconds Marcell Jacobs posted to win the 100-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month. Kerley won silver in Tokyo with a time of 9.84 seconds, while de Grasse got bronze with 9.89 seconds. De Grasse was also the gold medalist in the 200-meter race.
It's worth noting, however, that Saturday's results did come with +2.9 wind assistance on the track.
Previously, the closest a field of runners had come to replicating the feat might have been the 2012 Olympic final, in which every finalist finished under 10 seconds except for Asafa Powell, who had injured his groin. The 2020 Olympic field was similarly close with every finisher coming in under 10 seconds, but Zharnel Hughes' false-start disqualification and Enoch Adegoke's DNF due to hamstring injury prevented a clean sweep.
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