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You are in: Special Events: 2001: World Athletics |
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Sunday, 5 August, 2001, 04:22 GMT 05:22 UK
Sprint times ruled illegal
Lewis-Francis' time no longer exists legally
By BBC Sport Online's Tom Fordyce in Edmonton
A faulty wind gauge means the breathtaking times recorded at the mens world 100m quarter-final heats will not stand as legal times. The news is a blow for the trio of British runners who believed they had run personal bests in reaching the semi-finals. Dwain Chambers, Christian Malcolm and Mark Lewis-Francis all reached the final set of heats, with the latter believing he had set a new world junior record. But as darkness fell on Edmonton, the International Amateur Athletics Federation admitted its wind measuring device was faulty. In his regular column for BBC Sport Online, Malcolm says: "I don't know what was going with the sprinting on Saturday. Those times were unbelievable.
"I know that they found out later the wind measurements were wrong, but at the time we thought they were accurate." During the heats, world record holder Maurice Greene ran a time of 9.88secs, apparently into a head wind, which should have cut three-tenths of a second off his time. He set the world record of 9.79secs in 1999. The fastest recorded time run under any conditions is a wind-aided 9.69secs by Obadele Thompson of Barbados at El Paso, Texas, in 1996. Despite the time ruling, the fast heats prompted observers to wonder whether Sunday's final could see the world record fall. "I've got something special for tomorrow. As you see, I just ran 9.88 with ease," said Greene. Tim Montgomery, the world leader this year at 9.84secs, ran his heat just before Greene and won in 9.92secs. Asked if he thought Montgomery had sent a message, Greene replied, "He just got a message from me."
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