AMERICAN CHRISTIAN COLEMAN FEELS USAIN BOLT’S 100-METER WORLD RECORD MAY FALL SOON.

American sprinter Christian Coleman believes Usain Bolt’s 15-year-old 100-metre record of 9.58 seconds is within reach, and that several athletes are quick enough to break it.

“It appears that the times being run, 9.58 is obviously an extraordinary time, but honestly, I feel like there are a lot of guys competing today who are not that far away, if the track gods see fit for it to happen,” Coleman told reporters on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Shanghai Diamond League event.

“But it needs to be perfect conditions, on the right day, in the right competition, and at the right venue… if you’re concentrated on running properly, like performing a solid race, I believe those magical moments occur.

“I feel like it’s within my wheelhouse, but I don’t put too much stress or thought into it. I try to concentrate on the next practice, the next rep, the next meet, and just keep improving and getting better and better, and the times will come.”

In 2009, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt established the 100m record in Berlin. American Tyson Gay is the second fastest after Bolt, with a timing of 9.69 recorded in Shanghai the same year.

Christian Miller, a 17-year-old from the United States, ran 9.93 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year, at a high school event in Florida last weekend.

Coleman, a five-time world champion with a 100m personal best of 9.76 established in 2019, will face US opponent Fred Kerley, a silver medalist in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics, for the first time this outdoor season at the Shanghai Diamond League competition on Saturday.

“I’m the fittest I’ve ever been,” said Kerley, who ran his fastest 100m of 9.76 in 2022. “I’m learning how to run the 100 still, me and my coaches are working on the phases of the races instead of just running the race like I always have.”

Coleman, 28, won gold in the 60 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this season.