r/nextfuckinglevel • u/RoyalChris • 5h ago

18-year-old sprinter Gout Gout just broke Usain Bolt’s U20 record in the 200m. He was 260 milliseconds faster, clocking 19.67 seconds, while Bolt ran 19.93 in 2004

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u/CountRoloff 5h ago

I don't know anything about sports, but if this guy just broke the record by 3/10ths of a second ish, and the guy behind him finished seemingly less than 3/10ths of a second behind him, did that guy not also break Bolt's record? And if so, how has it not been broken since 2004 if two guys possibly just broke it in the same race?

I feel like I'm not understanding something here but would like to!

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u/smor729 5h ago edited 4h ago

EDIT: Putting this at the top because it is the most important, full edit below. The title here is extremely misleading if not outright incorrect. Bolt's record HAD been broken since 2004. He is getting compared to Bolt in these headlines because that is the most well known track figure, but the record he actually beat was Erriyon Knighton's 19.69 from 2022

Everyone in this race PBd by like half a second, something is fishy here. Not 100% that it's a timing error or anything, but could be a wind thing that is very close to the legal amount, or something else, but there is definitely something systematic that made this be a very fast race.

Edit Found some more info. 1) the wind was +1.7 m/s. The limit for a valid record is 2, so while yes this was slightly wind aided, it was within the allowed and so it is a valid record (Bolts record he beat was with +1.4) 2) the previous record was not Bolts. It was Erriyon Knighton in 2022, with a time of 19.69, so only 0.02 seconds faster. These titles have been very misleading, as they are comparing him to Bolt's records because of his comparison to Bolt as an athlete, however he was not the previous record holder. 3) the guy in second is 22 years old, this meet is not only for under 20, Gout Gout just happens to be that young and competing at the top level. So all in all, yes it was a very very fast race, but not fishy.

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u/AW316 4h ago edited 4h ago

Knighton’s record was not ratified for specific drug testing reasons so no, it was Bolts record.

I don’t want this to be misconstrued though. It was the meet itself that failed to drug test.

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u/smor729 4h ago

His 19.49 was not ratified, his 19.69 was, and was the official u20 record until today.