Kim Collins out of retirement!

Update, 5 July 2013

Collins has now moved up to a tie for 7th place on the year in the 100m, with his new PR of 9.97 (+2.0)

Not the best race he has run this year, not by a long shot--missed the start, was unbalanced at the finish, and had no lean.

With a better-executed race, he will go even faster than that, quite probably to solid 9.95-mid: 9.94-9.95

He has been running so well, it was just a matter of time before he set a new PR. He has never had good enough conditions over the past few years, until tonight--and when he did, like in Daegu IIRC, he was saving himself because it was a semi.

He just solidly beat the up-and-comer's KBC, Ash, and Vicaut by around .10, after missing the start. Had he not drawn lane 8, that margin would have been closer to .15

He is performing to his maximum potential on an ongoing basis, which is incredible. The only guys ahead of him this year are all HUGE names (Gay, Powell, Gatlin, Bolt), journeymen who are probably actually marginally faster than Collins (Rodgers, Carter), and a single young guy, KBC (I don't count Locke's fake-wind 9.97)

To be sure, the season isn't over, and other competitors will surely eclipse Collins this year--but consider that mere weeks before world's, he is less than .10 away from second place Powell, with only Gay out in front of the field.

COLLINS--if you don't believe me now, there is nothing I can do. He is one of the very best clean sprinters, ever--maybe not the absolute fastest, but the BEST. Most guys are crippled, fat, drooling interviewers by his age.

Funny sprintgeezer you are giving a pass to Collins on doping despite running PR's in late 30's! Who else would you do that for?

You do know his old college program had ties to doping as one contributing reason coaching staff was fired when they had other issues. Convienent way to rid school of what could have been a major black eye.

Kim is able to keep firing because he hasn't doped up and fried himself out lol. Even ive never doped and can still run 10.4 with no weight training at 33 lol people think im on drugs at the meets because I beat hs and college kids lol. No its not drugs its taking care of your body and not pushing it beyond its natural limits. Ive been able to run mid 10's from 1997 till 2013 lol. Eventually you WILL shut down and run slow when you hit 30's when you boost up continuously. If Gatlin didn't get that break from his drug ban he would be burnt up too just like Maurice Greene luckily that was a rest period for his body to recover and as you see he is able to come back on the DOPE and drop 9.7 again in his 30's. If Gatlin would stay off the drugs he could hand around 10.1/20.5 until his late 30's like Collins. But for Gatlin he wants to run 9.7's instead so he will be done in a couple years and wont ever eclipse Collins times at 38.

EXACTLY, except I am not at all sure that Gatlin is now juicing--however, having said that, he should shortly be burning out, due to the ending of his physiologic extension period from his suspension. Look at his top 5 adjusted performances this year, in chronological order:

20 Apr - 10.10

10 May - 10.03

21 May - 9.91

06 Jun - 9.98

21 Jun - 9.94

That's a good, solid sprinter, especially since the times were done all around the world. A 9.9x-low is a 9.8x-low with max wind, and believable. Plus, he has apparently not escaped this year without at least a little bit of injury, which is a sign of cleanliness.

Getting back to Collins, look at his form, look at his body, look at his times, look at his performance record, look at his consistent appearances. His form is forgiving--he does NOT "power" races in the manner of the Johnson series (Johnson, Blake). He has a quick muscular response, snaps his limbs quickly, and lets the muscles relax. He has excellent timing of on-and-off signals to the muscles, which makes things easier on both the muscles and connective tissue. He doesn't overstride, and has an essentially optimal footplant for maintaining balance in the body. He weighs nothing and his muscles therefore need to produce less force to enable the same acceleration, meaning less stress in the tendons as well. His body hasn't changed one bit. His times are absolutely consistent--even this PR is still consistent, the only reason he got it was because of max wind. He never, NEVER has ducked meets suspiciously.

Consider that he is an outlier, but consider that is only because of his age. First, he is not 48, he is 38, well within the range in which we've seen excellent performances from, say, distance athletes. Second, his performances are not absolutely incredible, like say Jeter's at age 32.

I judge things, at least in part, according to personal experience. After I stopped serious training for quite a while and then picked up "masters track" as a casual thing, I ran 2 meets, in both of which I ran 11.7--and that was something like 13 years ago now. Last year I went an injured 11.8, and could have still gone 11.7 had I gone all-out. Given the same level of training and commitment (recreational only) I have had zero diminution in something like 13 years, from 33 to 46.

I know that's not the norm--but it is the truth. With Collins we're not even talking those ages--we're talking 25 to 38, many of which are "prime years". He trains and commits at a higher level than I ever could, given that I'm not a pro runner. IMHO I could have maintained my max level of performance until something like age 33-35, had I tried, and then fallen off very slowly, or maybe not at all, during late 30's.

There is only minimal reason to suspect that Collins is on drugs--the only suspicious thing is his consistency to an age older than any other pro runner has yet exhibited, as far as has been shown. He's only as good as he's ever been, has never had a significant and sudden performance increase, is really not that old physiologically, has not had a body change, and has a forgiving style.

Plus, his coach is his wife, I think. He's a good guy--that way his wife gets to travel with him everywhere, gets to be with him during meets, etc. That's solid, and he deserves points for it. The only time there was any anomaly in his stellar competition schedule was when he was sanctioned for putting his marriage first.

THAT is a guy I'm down with. He's one of the very best sprinters who has ever lived--maybe not as absolutely fast as some others, but his longevity more than makes up for it--in any other sport he would be exalted as the ironman, a Nolan Ryan type of guy. One of the very best, ever.

Collins will apparently be running the 100 in the sold-out London DL meet with Bolt.

I hope they're right beside each other.

I don't know if he will be running Monaco or not, but I wouldn't be surprised, since he seems to compete an awful lot and is entertaining to watch.

Yeah, love for Collins!

Lol @ reading the first page of this thread. Personally, I hope he makes WC finals in the 100m.

Why are you laughing out loud at everything lol?

COLLINS!

Wins 100m at Guylai Memorial in Budapest 2013, after a crappy plane flight, in

9.99 (+0.2)

You chump disbelievers out there, that's a 9.9x-mid with some wind, a 9.9x-low with max wind.

And he beat up-and-comers KBC and Harvey in doing it.

THE MAN!

That 9.97 is going down.

oh plz: "Collins will never be competitive in the 100m again. He isn't fast enough. His deficiency has nothing to do with speed endurance, joint angles or any of the blah blah blah that you wrote. He's too old, and was barely elite during his prime."

Classic.

Written 2 years ago, when Collins was already "too old".

He has a decent shot at making the final at WC's 2013, because he can run rounds.

He's currently in 9th place in the All-Athletics.com world rankings, but he's "not competitive", right?

He's broken 10-flat twice in 2013, but he's "not competitive" right?

He's already in the top-10 times in 2013, but he's "not competitive", right?

He gets 5th in the Rome DL meet, 4th in the Doha DL meet, 3rd in the Birmingham DL meet, finishes 4th by .01 in a 9.79 race in Lausanne, takes Powell to the line in Ostrava, he wins in Budapest, and yet he's "not competitive", right?

LMAO

The only way he wouldn't be competitive is if he were to get injured.

But SG one of his country woman and training partner was sent home from the Olympics last year and just got served a 3 year ban for taking a blood booster veterinary med based drug for horses. He knew if he stuck around London last year for the blood tests he was going to get discovered like Tamika so he concocted the BS story of sleeping with his wife and not being in the village.

You are so blind to this guy for all the wrong reasons. Believe what you want, those on the circuit know. I got into a discussion last night here in Europe with a few athletes and coaches and agents and suffice to say not one sees your man Collins as clean.

I see Sprintgeezer is still going strong as the biggest analytical crackpot on this site six months later...

You're absolutely correct that he MIGHT be doping.

All athletes might be doping.

The question is, is there a good case for believing that he is doping?

He has done 3 things that nobody else has yet done:

1) run to his current age with no diminution at all from the peak performance level of his career;

2) run sub-10 at a greater age than any other athlete in recorded history; and

3) set a 100m PR at a greater age than any other recorded elite athlete, as far as I'm aware.

(2) I don't really worry about, because he is only just below 10, and has been consistent.

(3) I don't really worry about because it is tied to (2), and is an accident of situation--his performance was really no better than he has had in any number of years during his career, including the previous two years.

(1) I worry about, because surely other elites have tried, right?

Collins has been on a continuous peak for a decade. Is that possible? I haven't looked up his basic PR's every year, but I would be willing to bet that they are all pretty close.

Patton is the closest living example, having set a 60m PR at 36 or 37, going away from the field, and scorching a windy PR of 9.75 a few months later. Of course, he paid the price with injury, which Collins has somehow been able to avoid.

Linford Christie (nandrolone) was great until late in life, but that was the drugs talking. Is Collins doing the same thing? I have no idea.

But on this guy, all things considered, I come down on the clean side. Yes, I could be wrong.

Also, what specific reasons did they offer for believing that he is using? If only the obvious ones, then it comes down to a judgment call.

I agree that the Tameka Williams story complicates matters. Before last year I believed 99% that Collins was clean--now, my belief is less than that--still good, but it has dropped, for sure.

Tameka doesn't train with Kim Collins that camp trains in Houston. Same camp as their new National champion who ran 10.0 and 20.13 cramping 10 meters from the finish lol. Collins trains with his wife in st. kitts

Tameka doesn't train with Kim Collins she is a US based athlete. Yeah but blackcard is right watch out for her camp they have some under the radar blazers comming up FAST. Antoine adams ran 20.13 and stopped at 190 meters at CAC champs easily would have been 19.8 with a .5 wind but he still broke Kim Collins National Record from 2003. I hear they have 3 or 4 guys capable of 19 seconds a friend watched their 300 meter time trials not one guy ran slower than 33 seconds her camp might be the new Racers of the US soon. They threw together a last minute 4x100 for fun and kicked everyones butt at a Houston meet running 39 seconds laughing and playing around

Yes, I've heard rumors about Houston, but beyond that I know nothing.

I thought Collins was training in Mobay? That is, when he's not traveling the world, which is most of the time.

I have yet to really "believe" in any of the SKN young guys, but since you brought up Adams, his 10.01 came with a max wind, of which I am always suspicious--it's amazing how many winds are right on 2.0--but even if it is legit, it would only represent around a 0.05 improvement in basic time this year, which is totally believable.

However, he does show that .50 improvement that I've found in a great many athletes--but he shows it in the 200, not in the 100, and it is actually a 0.63 improvement, from 20.76 to 20.13 with roughly the same wind, and the 20.13 could easily have been a 20.10 which would make it a 0.66 improvement in the 200, which is arguably comparable to a 0.50 improvement in the 100.

To be fair, though, I don't know his exact 100m history.

And regarding Collins, even though he isn't in the same camp as Williams, it strains credibility to believe that the two suspensions weren't somehow connected.

I have trouble understanding the logic of suspending the best athlete your country has ever had--a national hero, the Olympic ambassador, an athlete with a more than decent chance at making the final of the marquee event at the Olympic Games (Thompson made it in at 10.02, guys on the bubble were Bledman, Chambers, and Gemili, at 10.04, 10.05, and 10.06) Bledman and Thompson were ahead of Collins on the year, but only just--and Collins can run rounds. Furthermore, in 2011 he not only qualified 4th for the final, but actually got a bronze medal when Bolt false-started.

Why was the chosen sanction, the single most injurious sanction possible, in terms of national exposure, image, and pride? Seriously? For THAT type of a rule violation?

There are different types of rule violations, you know--and this one ranks very low. Why the MAXIMUM possible sanction for the country? The only thing worse for Collins as an individual athlete would have been a longer ban, say a year or two--but missing the Games for which you came out of retirement, in which you had a shot at the final? That is HUGE, maybe even a bigger sanction than a longer-term suspension, because he's sufficiently old that nobody knows if he even will be running at all in 2 years time, suspension or no suspension.

It doesn't add up. There is something that we're not being told, either some sort of aggravating factor (like he pissed someone off personally in doing what he did), or the real reason was not at all what it was reported to be, in which case it could have been anything, but a PED rule violation is a good bet, as it is one of the only things that would make pulling such an athlete a reasonable course of action to pursue.

If you know more, please enlighten us.

As for me, even though he doesn't train with Williams, his own suspension from the Games, combined with hers, most definitely brings Collins down in terms of believability.

I still come down on the side of clean, but only just.

And obviously Chambers isn't doping:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/10177286/Dwain-Chambers-back-on-course-for-Moscow-after-impressive-100-metres-run-in-Birmingham.html

SG was the man. He saw Collins' new PR in 2014 back in his 2013 racing, AND he acknowledged that Collins might be doped, given the Tameka Williams situation.

Whether Collins' 9.96 is ratified or not, SG should get credit for going through the process he did in this thread, from worshipper to appreciative skeptic. This old thread puts the new 9.96 thread to shame, where posters unfortunately talk mostly about stuff they don't know, and that is unobservable. SG talked about his body and his form, which are clearly observable, and gave the Tameka Williams scenario just the right amount of treatment, without going into the weeds.

This was a great thread.

Thanks man, love you too. BTW I'm not dead, yet.

oh plz, in 2011: "Collins will never be competitive in the 100m again. He isn't fast enough. His deficiency has nothing to do with speed endurance, joint angles or any of the blah blah blah that you wrote. He's too old, and was barely elite during his prime."

Even more classic than in 2011, or 2013. It's funny to look back to these old letsrun threads and see just how sprint-ignorant many of the posters here were. Understandably, as it's a distance site, but they all talked a big game.

May 29, 2016: Kim Collins, 9.93 (+1.9), Bottrop, Germany

PB at age 40.

And yes, he looked relaxed.

"Collins will never be competitive in the 100m again." ROTFLMAO. All the big names have gone already this year, and he sits in 2nd place, I think. Yes he will likely be well-beaten in Rio, but he's hardly "uncompetitive". He just won that race he was in, and destroyed some decent competition--Morris, Gemili, and Smellie--by a quarter of a second, and more.

But no, he will never be competitive again. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!