Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

Has anyone ever wondered what happened to
Matt Shirvington. In 1998 he became the
quickest teenager in history at the age of
19.He ran a 10.03 100 meters! The country
of Australia proclaimed him the next great
sprinter!Since then,his times have been
slower and the quickest he has run since
then is a 10.11! Granted hes still young,
but he has had alot of injuries.I think
that he still has potential but needs to
get his head on straight.What do you guys
think?Will he shine by the Goodwill Games?

Daniel

[Justin]

I remember Matt Shirvington mouthing off about planning to be the first white man to break 10.00. The response of his competitors (who inluded Linford Christie), the press and the public was not, shall we say, complimentary. Apart from anything else Shirvington was chastised for his lack of ambition - after all, 9.99 may make him the fastest white man on the planet but it wouldn't win him much besides the Aussie champs.

Since then he's had injuries and has not run to his potential, which clearly is sub 10. A lesson to all youngsters about shooting your mouth off rather than letting your running talk for you.

Incidentally 10.03 is not the fastest time by a teenager. Carl Lewis ran 10.00 in 1981 a few months before his 20th birthday. I believe that's the fastest teenage time.

Justin

[Conway]

I've never been too impressed with Shirvington .. As Justin said he shot off his mouth and irritated most of ihs competition .. Not a smart thing to do ..

Also his running style is that of the fast starter who needs ot get out in front in order to relax and get his best times .. Since this only works against his own compatriots, I seriously doubt he will ever break 10.00 unless he gets in a race that goes like the 91 Worlds and gets a 6th or 7th just under 10.00 ...

And as ustin stated previously so what ?? What good is a 9.99 if you only get 6th or 7th in the race ... I think to say you are going to be the first of anything to break a time barrier is settling for too little ... At least in the competitive world of sports ...

And Justin, wasn't that 10.00 for Carl his NCAA win over Jeff Phillips (both timed 10.00) ?? If so, wasn't that race wind aided ??

[Justin]

Lewis ran 10.00 (0.0 wind) on 16 May 81 at the SWC champs in Dallas, 6 weeks before his 20th B-day. It was the fastest time of the year and a world sea-level best, beating James Sanford's 10.02 from the year before.

But now that I've checked, it's not the fastest time run by a 19 yr old. Seun Ogunkoya ran 9.97 on 13 Jul 97 in Formia, 5 months before his 20th B-day (28 Dec). No junior (ie 19th B-day in year of competition) has broken 10, although Tim Montgomery and Mark Lewis-Francis both did so with dodgy wind readings in races which were probably wind assisted.

Justin

[Conway]

Ah .. Had forgotten about the SWC race .. My mistake .. Had also forgotten about Ogunkoya .. Sort of disappeared off the map ..

Justin, I noticed British sprinters in the US this past weekend .. What's up with that ?? Is it weather or coaching ??

[Justin]

UK athletes have been running in early season (for us) meetings in the US for some years - several of the major sprint training groups routinely spend parts of the winter in Australia and parts of the spring in the US for warm-weather training. The sorts of races you see them in are early-season sharpeners or just a break from training. There are few races in the UK of the quality of even a small US meet and none at all at this time of year.

Justin

[Conway]

Must make it tough on training .. As far as trying to determine where on is .. At least here in the states there are domestic meets one can compete in .. You don't have to travel the world until the European season when you are doing so for the money ..

So now they go back and have to wait until some months down the roadvor do they stay for a while ??

[Dan]

What Brits are we talking about? I feel left out of this discussion.

Dan

[Conway]

Chambers and Lewis Francis are the ones I have seen so far ... And Rawlinson (intermediates) ..

[Dan]

I'd say those are pretty big names!

Dan

[Conway]

Yes they are .. Feeding off the fat of the land of speed I dare say ... ... Curious as to who pays for this sojourn .. MOstly from the stand point of national involvement in their work to improve ...

[Dan]

I sure wouldn't mind getting our sprinters down that way for some nice warm weather running... Our conference performance lists are littered with fast times from the 4 or 5 other schools that ran in California once or more this season. Definitely can't underestimate the effect of good conditions.

Dan