He was obviously capable he had all the tools a fast start, a 12m/s top speed and possibly the best speed endurance of any sprinter. For some reason he could never run well in a big race. When he ran relaxed he could run crazy times, he ran a 9.74 easing up at the end. That may have been his only shot at a 9.6, it could have been a 9.66 to 9.69. What do you guys think his potential was?
Asada Powell...WHO?
AsaFa Powell choked and barely broke 12 seconds for 100 meters at the 2012 Olympic games.
I'm sorry about that typo I corrected it and then spell check re corrected it to asada bowel.
Could he have been a good kick returner in the NFL?
he got injured and limped to finish in london
his speed endurance was definitely not so great
I was about to tell op about the rieti race, but you answered your own question- he slowed down
also, powell was as good as bolt when they let him anchor the relay
What do you mean not so great, he ran the second fastest relay leg ever and is .4 m/s a second slower than bolt, he has inferior top speed to bolt but has better speed endurance no question. He once ran a 100m and his last 50m of splits were .84 .84 .84 .85 .85. He practically held his top speed for 50m! His 9.72 and 9.74 were worth 9.67. He ,in my opinion ,could run 9.64 with no wind in the perfect race.
I don't know where you're getting these numbers from but I'm sure the 9.74 was with almost 2.0 m/s wind, 9.8x adjusted
if he had speed endurance like that his 2nd best event would be 200m, instead at 33 he ran 6.44 twice in one day
His 8.7 relay split is proof of his nearly unmatched speed endurance. And he ran 9.72 with practically no wind. I've have no idea why he chose not run the 200. Bolt was better than anyone at 60m but he chose not to run it.Those numbers are from powell's 100 wr.
He did run 200s occasionally but not for big races. Speed endurance in the hundred may not make you the best 200m runner though, Lewis had nothing on Johnson.
I really don't know what you're talking about
bolt had faster splits for 10m longer
if you can't race 200 at your 100 level then you're not great with s.e.
Bolt reached his top speed later and he went from .805 at his fastest to .83 for his last split much more slow down than Powell. Bolt despite having much higher top speed only ran a relay split .05 sec faster than Powell, their speed endurance is not equal.Powell may have been capable of a 19.5 he just didn't take the 200m as seriously as the 100m. He ran a 31.61 300m time trial, that's better than some 400m runner's.Powell is likely a 19.4-19.6 guy honestly. Look up Clarence munyai same 300m as Powell, but he doesn't even run sub 10 in the hundred yet runs 19.69.
Blake or lyles may have better short speed endurance though.
To put it simply Powell can slow down almost 3 times less than bolt. Its about .40m/s of slow down during the a hundred for bolt and .14 for Powell. The person who slows down the least in the 100 though is not automatically the best 200m runner. In the 200 you hold a sub maximal speed for about 13 sec after reaching peak race speed in the hundred you try to reach maximum speed and hold as much as possible for 3-4 secs, very different races.Bolt is running at a lower percentage of his top speed during the 200, he has a higher speed reserve which helps increase speed endurance in the 200m.He has more left in the final 100 because he can run sub ten and still not try as hard as another sprinter running 10.2 in the first hundred.
he may have reached his top speed later, but he was as fast as asafa 10m earlier and held higher pace since 30-40m split
how is .86 .83 .82 .81 .83 .83 worse than asafa?
You guys might be forgetting, he had groin pulls at least twice while running the curve of 200s, so he eventually stayed away from it.
Here's a better question that no one seems to be asking:
Why are there really weird fanboy type people oddly message board warrior-like about individual sprinters from the past who were neither particularly charismatic, nor all that consequential-in hindsight-. On this board (a distance based website to boot), every once in a while, someone randomly posts hyperbolically about:
Ben Johnson
Donovan Bailey
Michael Johnson
Maybe to a lesser degree Bob Hayes
And now....Asafa Powell.
All Powell ever seemed to do was get walked down by Gay and Bolt. It happened CONSTANTLY, and not just in championship finals. If the argument is that he had impeccable speed endurance, then that's either the weird fanboy 'ish I am talking about, or Gay and Bolt's "SE" were just that historically good , much to to Powells poor luck (while that's probably true -drug fueled or not-, I would contend that other guys like Blake and Atkins also less dramatically walked down Powell on occasion in the last 40 meters, too).
Powell seemed to be era defining when he started to churn out low 9.8s, and then high 9.7s, with near regular consistency. But in hindsight he was really just a bridge between the Greene era and the Gay/Bolt era and he isn't really all the defining. The only reason he could have been capable of a 9.6x is because he would have been pulled through it in the wake of Bolt and Gay (and perhaps Blake), not because he was -in and of himself- that much of a stand out in his OWN era.
because he wasn't fast enough. Screw all the analysis and what ifs
lol that's dumb. do I need to explain why?
ben was superior to your boi carlito, seen by most as a better natural talent. while they both doped, carlito is seen as a legend and ben the supervillain
why did carlito not exceed 9m with consistent 9.8 speed? weird
mj is still 2nd-3rd in the all time lists, still owns ~15-20 of top50 times in 2&4. his times were so ahead of their time that he's even kind of comparable to bolt
bailey was the greatest in his time, but I don't see people talk much about him tbh. in fact, what's so crazy about this thread or people taking about sprinters in general? you can find discussions about komen, el g and ngeny (GOAT) potential if that's more to your taste
powell is the 4th fastest man ever, 1st or 2nd fastest from running start. with better wind and less slowing down for no reason he'd have 2 9.6x. he held the world record (with multiple repeats and an improvement) for almost 3 years. he did get beat, but only by the 3 best ever
except he was. he's officially 4th and deserves to be 2nd all time
mr. nice guy wrote:
except he was. he's officially 4th and deserves to be 2nd all time
Dude. Give it up with relay splits. NO ONE CARES ABOUT RELAY SPLITS. This isnt the 7th grade relay.
MJ is legit, but recently we had a guy trying to make claim that MJ could have chased the 100m WR of his era if he tried: NO.
Bailey is also pretty legit. But he was kind of like a luckier version of Powell, in terms of eras. He was a bridge to Greene, but snuck in there with an epic Atlanta final. Good on him. But, with his BS ego....meh; take him or leave him and sure-as-hell ain't annoying for him.
Ben Johnson? I dunno, I just dont care about him. The nice thing for him is, no matter what, he RAN 9.79. They can take the gold. But they can't Mandela-effect him. But let's also not act like it's not tarnished either, and while the argument that he did what he did a decade before Greene did it "clean" actually held a bit of weight to it if anyone was honest about it, after Bolt Seoul and all those shenanigans feels moot. Eras matter, so he I wouldn't sat he's forgettable, but...I dunno. Too bad he couldn't come back and run really legit again, then youd REALLY have a case for him.