he ran 10.06 in +2 last summer, and has had some very strong 200m times the last 2 years...but he's been mostly a 10.2-10.4 guy. just from athletic.net (could be missing some marks) he's broken 10.2 3 times, only twice with legal wind: a 10.14 in +2.2 on march 30th this year, his 10.06 to win U20 USAs +2 (and a sizeable PR), and now 9.93 +1.6 (another massive PR). those seem to stray from the mean a pretty good amount. lets see what he follows it up with, and I'll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt as I feel like all high schoolers (kids) deserve. but I'd be lying if I said issam's case hasn't left a bad taste in my mouth.
We say "test him" because of the absurd times that these young kids are running. We have freshmen running 10.3's, 10.4's... at FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. And people expect them to be the next WR contenders or something?
It's frustrating because all these young kids are outshining the older people who actually put in the effort just because these kids are on steroids. And then by the time they DO become upperclassman and into college, they suddenly regress and vanish off the face of the earth. Wtf??
I hate to say it, but I no longer look at these freshmen/sophomores running crazy fast times for their age group with pride. I now look at them with suspicion. Because there's been a little too many of them in the fast few years... and they all seem to just vanish once they enter the public eye.
Yeah, hard to imagine a hs kid running even with Calvin Smith who set a WR at altitude (Colorado Springs) 40 years ago. But, Dwayne Evans captured bronze in Montreal (76) as a hs athlete.
US sprinter Calvin Smith set the World 100m record at Colorado Springs on July 3, 1983 at the U.S. Olympic Festival. The record, set at altitude beat Jim Hi...