Watching vid of Blake's 9.84 in Cayman, I have to say that Gatlin still has a long way to go.
Blake seems to have reserves that he can tap into...watch as he goes Hayes-esque on the rest of the field in Cayman. He just seems to open a valve, and the speed flows however much he wants it to.
Gatlin's style is interesting, but I still think that he tends to swing a bit too much. I know what he is doing, and hopefully he is not past the optimum point of balance between stride length/extension and turnover. If he can increase his turnover and maintain that range, then he will be up there with Blake/Bolt.
I know he has the ability, I think we saw a flash of it when he turned on the jets indoors, but only he knows if it actually results in a faster 100m time.
For those runners who run with a style like Gatlin, hip flexor strains are more common when going at or near 100%, so I actually hope that he doesn't race too much. I don't actually recall him complaining of any such injury, so maybe it is very natural for him, and not over-extended.
Blake is unbelievable. Last year in JUNE he ran 9.95 (+0.9), 9.97 (+0.6), and 9.98 (+0.5). Let's say that he's a full .10 ahead of where he was last year.
All things being equal, that would give him 9.72 under still conditions this year, which is 9.6x with some wind, and 9.60 with a really good wind and a bit of altitude.
That would be WR territory, a place that Gatlin has never demonstrated (also not Powell). Blake's only competition is Bolt, who looks good but not great so far, opening in a 9.90 corrected. For Bolt that should be an "easy" run, but it actually looked a bit strained to me, although his start and drive phase looked really good.
Blake, holy crap.
I would be not at all surprised if Blake set new 100m and 200m world records this year. He could already have the 200m WR, and based on the admittedly simplistic projection above, he is in even better shape this year than last.
So, I guess we are back in the era of the 5'10", 180-lb champion sprinter.
I know I'm jumping the gun, but he really is amazing, and a cut above. I now think that, head-to-head, he would beat anybody currently competing in the 100m. Bolt used to be that guy, the terminator in the blocks, the guy who everybody knew had something, they just didn't know how much of it he had. That is now Blake.