Coach--
The point of giving a "corrected" time is not to diminish the performance, it is to get an idea of where he stands relative to other athletes who didn't happen to run in that particular race.
9.92 is no doubt a brilliant run--for the longest time, Calvin Smith's 9.93(A) was the WR, taken down by only Lewis' 9.92 in Seoul in '88.
But he'll shortly be running against lots of guys who have run 9.92 and faster this year, even excluding the times I consider bogus from Eugene and possibly Clermont.
His uncorrected 9.92 puts him 9th on the 100m list this year.
Considering Gay at 9.79 is out, that puts him at 8th, which is potentially WC finals material.
But wait, there's more. I think Rodgers' 9.85 from Eugene has to be thrown out, for obvious reasons. Lemaitre is now 7th.
Mullings' 9.80 from Eugene also has to be thrown out, but he also has a 9.89 that looks possibly legit, although from Clermont, especially since it took +2.0 to get there.
So Lemaitre sits at an uncorrected 7th place right now, which is amazing.
The 6 guys in front of him needed less wind than he did, and ran better times, so they are legitimately in front of him.
But now let's compare apples to apples, and look at how corrected times stack up at the WC's.
Lemaitre's best corrected time of the year is actually his 9.95 (+1.0) in Lausanne, which is a 10.01 corrected.
Frater can be disregarded, as he is not on Jamaica's 100m world team!
So now Lemaitre sits at 6th.
Bledman's 9.93 (+1.0) is a 9.98 corrected, and better than Lemaitre's 10.01 corrected, but I think it has to be thrown out because it is Clermont-anomalous, and it is way out of whack for him, he has never before or since come close.
So Lemaitre still sits 6th.
Patton's 9.94 (+1.3) is a 10.01 corrected, equal to Lemaitre's 10.02 corrected--but, it was recorded in that bogus April 6 race in Eugene, so it has to be thrown out.
So Lemaitre still sits 6th.
Dix's 9.94 (+1.3) looks to be a real 10.01 corrected, so he is in competition with Lemaitre for the 6th spot.
Blake's 9.95 (+0.9) in Montreuil is a 9.95 corrected, so he also has to be put ahead of Lemaitre.
Lemaitre is now bumped down to battling for the 7th spot with Dix.
Gatlin's 9.95 (+1.3) is a 10.02, leaving Lemaitre and Dix battling for 7th.
Ashmeade's 9.96 (+1.1) is a 10.01 corrected, but IMHO should be thrown out as it is from that anomalous Clermont meet.
Bailey's 9.97 (+0.5) is a 10.00, so he must be put ahead of Lemaitre as well.
Lemaitre and Dix are now battling for the 8th spot.
Bledman's 10.05 (-0.5) in Mayaguez is a 10.02 corrected, leaving Lemaitre and Dix in 8th.
Thompson's 10.06 (-0.7) in Lignano is a 10.01 corrected.
Lemaitre, Dix, and Thompson are now battling for the 8th spot.
So, his 9.92 wasn't even his best run of the year. It was essentially the same run he has produced all year long, only .01 worse than his run in Lausanne--it just happened to have better wind.
So what do we have? The top 7 going to WC's, by corrected times so far this year, in no particular order, are:
Powell
Bolt
Makusha
Carter
Mullings
Blake
Bailey
Then we have, battling for the 8th spot, a 3-way tie:
Lemaitre, Dix, Thompson
Just 0.01 second behind these 3 is:
Gatlin
Wildcards with questionable race results are:
Bledman, Rodgers
These runners all have a fair shot of making the semi's, barring injury or false starts.
So, Lemaitre is on the bubble with essentially 5 other guys at WC's.
I would lump Bailey in with these guys, leaving 7 runners, including Lemaitre, vying for the last 2 spots in the final.
So which 2 runners will make the final, out of Lemaitre, Dix, Thompson, Gatlin, Bledman, Rodgers, and Bailey?
THAT is a tough question to answer.
It depends of course on how well they run rounds, and on who has been showing improvement leading up to WC's.
My guess would be Dix and Lemaitre, although who knows. Dix has been consistent over the years, and seems to deliver when it matters. Lemaitre is so consistent that he could probably run exactly the same race in the prelims and semi's.
There is also Makusha ahead of these guys, who is relatively untested in high level meets, IMHO. So that could mean that these guys would be fighting for 3 spots, in which case I'd pick Dix, Lemaitre, and probably Rodgers.
Who ya' got from among these 7 athletes, for potentially 2 or 3 spots in the WC final?