Records are there to be broken and Usain Bolt’s 200 metre sprint time of 19.19 seconds has lasted for eleven years.
That was until Noah Lyles came along. Last Thursday the athlete, whose previous personal best had been a sedentary 19.50 seconds, set a blistering pace to reach the finishing line in just 18.90 seconds at the Inspiration Games in Zurich last Thursday.
So astonishing was the feat that there was an immediate inquiry. When all was said and done, it turned out that Lyles had been placed in the wrong lane by the organisers and the athlete had run just 185 metres. Bolt’s record still stands.
Unsurprisingly, Lyles was less than impressed, commenting “you can’t be playing with my emotions like this. Got me in the wrong lane”.
How difficult can it be to measure out the right distance?
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