Posted: May 12, 2006

Athletics: Justin Gatlin breaks World Record, look out New York!

Olympic and World Champion Justin Gatlin added World Record-holder to his list of titles today when he ran 9.76 seconds to break the mark of 9.77 set last year by Asafa Powell of Jamaica. Gatlin became the official and undisputed Fastest Man in the World at the Qatar Super Grand Prix in Doha.

Gatlin will run the 100 meters at the Reebok Grand Prix in NYC on June 3. “I think I’m more motivated now to go out there and run a faster time in New York,” he said in a teleconference immediately afterward.

“I think it hasn’t hit me yet,” he said. “I’m astounded. I’m just speechless about it.” The weather for the race was hot, with a wind reading of +1.7 meters per second.

A few weeks ago, Gatlin said on a Reebok Grand Prix teleconference that the World Record was a goal for him this year. “If you want something, you gotta go get it. I think that a lot of people have a mental block about the World Record, a lot of sprinters, because not that many people have gone 9.7 and I can’t say that I have, but me and Asafa both have come up at the same time … if he can do it, then I can do it as well.”

Yesterday, Gatlin said: “It came quicker than I thought it would come.” As for the near future, he added, “I think I can go faster, 9.74, 9.73.”

Tickets for the Reebok Grand Prix, at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, at $30 and $20, are now on sale at www.ReebokGrandPrix.com or by calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC. Group discounts are available. The event, managed by Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., begins at 5:30 p.m. June 3 and will be broadcast live on ESPN2 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. ET. It is the fourth stop in USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series.

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