http://www.trackalerts.com/news/lead-stories/5352-thompson-gets-em-with-national-recordThompson gets ‘em’ with national recordMonday, 15 August 2011 10:25 By Taharka Carrington, taharkacarrington@yahoo.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - As recently as Thursday, Richard Thompson was uncertain as to whether he would return home for the National Championships, but at 6:40pm on Saturday night, Richard ‘Torpedo’ Thompson became the new national 100m record holder at 9.85 seconds at the Hasley Crawford Stadium.
The ‘Torpedo’- a long narrow under water missile – exploded out of his blocks and when he was over the finish line, and the time appeared on the screen, the raucous, but adoring crowd burst into celebrations.
Yes, it was a new national record. Ato Boldon’s 9.86 stood no more.
“I knew I felt good before the race and I was ready to dip under 10 seconds, however 9.85 was beyond what I expected. I am just thankful for it.” He also acknowledged the man who he replaced in the history books “I want to thank Ato. He still gives me advice and he has paved the way for us to do what we are doing today so kudos to him.” The time eclipses his previous personal best of 9.89 which he produced in taking silver behind Usain Bolt at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
The race was of such high quality, that 7 of the 8 finalists made the World Championships ‘A’ qualifying standard (10.18 seconds).
Trailing Thompson was Keston Bledman—the pre race favourite - in 10.06. Aaron Armstrong (10.07SB) and Marc Burns (10.08 SB) were third and fourth respectively. Rounding off the list was Emmanuel Callender (10.12 SB), Darryl Brown (10.13 SB), Rondell Sorrillo (10.17 PB) and teenager Jamol James (11.02). The victory made it three titles in a row for Thompson.
The National Championships were postponed from the 26th and 27th of June to last weekend because of the delays in the relaying of the track at the Hasley Crawford stadiu. Richard Thompson and his agent then wrote to the NAAA asking for his exemption from the championships, because they thought it was too close to the World Championships in just under two weeks. The NAAA replied saying six runners had made the qualifying time (including Thompson), and he needed to attend in order to justify his pick.
The NAAA decision to turn down Thompson’s request was definitely justified, since seven athletes made the A standard qualifier, but for Thompson “[It] was a blessing in disguise” as he produced a life time best and national record on a spanking new track.
Ato Boldon, who ran the previous record on four occasions between 1998 and 1999, lost his second record this season. In May, Zimbabwean Ngonidashe Makusha took down his 15 year old NCCA record.
In fact, this may have been revenge for the 26 year Thompson. If you look back to the 2008 NCAA Championships, Thompson had missed Boldon’s (then) NCAA 100m record of 9.92 second by one hundredth of a second. Three years later, he has broken Boldon’s national record by the same margin.
For the second year in succession, the winner of the Trinidad and Tobago trials in the men’s 100m has gone faster than the Jamaican Champion, Asafa Powell (10.08 seconds) and the USA champion, Walter Dix (9.94 seconds).
The time now puts Thompson joint fourth on this year’s performance list and is his first sub 10 clocking in two years.
So with Daegu (2011 World Championships) on the horizon, and all the hype been made about who will take the 100m dash, has the ‘Torpedo’ which exploded at the Hasely Crawford stadium this evening just before dust sounded his own warning?
