Drinking Slurpees this fast causes brain freezes

June 14, 2005 2:13 PM

Asafa Powell has set a new 100 meters world record.
posted by Elpoca (14 comments total)

Will this stand for long at one-hundredth of a second better than the last WR? Not to diminish his tremendous accomplishments, but I'm even more impressed by WRs that stand for years or decades; indicative of an athlete ahead of his/her time.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:34 PM on June 14, 2005

I agree with BrotherCaine, and I hate it when the same guy just barely keeps besting his best from before. So he can keep setting the record a little higher each time. Still 9.77's fast, really fast. I wonder if he can catch a football?
posted by fenriq at 2:59 PM on June 14, 2005

fenriq: it's not the same guy.
He had near perfect weather conditions (~28 C, wind +1.6 m/sec) + a fast track.

I agree with Elpoca: it seems to me that he's the only sprinter that could break 9.75.
posted by talos at 3:14 PM on June 14, 2005

Is this the faster ever run - clean or not? I know Ben Johnson's drug enhanced 1988 9.79 stood for years.
posted by jikel_morten at 4:14 PM on June 14, 2005

Very impressive record. It's astounding what runners can do. I recently read The Perfect Mile, which was about the hunt for the first sub-4 minute mile. The book had some flaws, but it was mostly just pretty awesome to read about the dedication and time these guys brought to running, especaially in an age when they were all amateurs.

Also, nice title.
posted by OmieWise at 4:22 PM on June 14, 2005

Naturally, the world record will continue to creep closer and closer to 9.70, but there must surely be a limit beyond which the human body will not move any faster. I predict that addition of the thousandths decimal place to race taimes within my lifetime.
posted by pmbuko at 5:09 PM on June 14, 2005

taimes?
posted by pmbuko at 5:11 PM on June 14, 2005

pmbuko: as we aproach the ultimate limit the improvements will get smaller and smaller. It could take quite a while.

Btw, how does the windspeed affect this. I'd think with the wind to you're back you could go a lot faster, especialy if you're close to the limit.
posted by delmoi at 5:25 PM on June 14, 2005

I think if there is too much wind, they won't count it in the records, or there will be a wind-aided asterisk beside it I think.
posted by jikel_morten at 5:58 PM on June 14, 2005

I think.
posted by jikel_morten at 5:59 PM on June 14, 2005

2 m/s tailwind is the cutoff according to IAAF. Excepting combined events where the average must be below 2 m/s with no single event exceeding 4 m/s.

You can have as great a headwind as you like, but I suspect no one will be breaking the record without a tailwind.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:11 PM on June 14, 2005

oops IAAF (pdf)
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:12 PM on June 14, 2005

Wow, he must be really tall.
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:29 AM on June 15, 2005

And for the metrically challenged: the 2 m/s wind limit is roughly 4.5 mph. I think.
posted by Osteo at 8:15 AM on June 15, 2005