Who is the fastest athlete on the planet? Many may say Usain Bolt. After all, he has run faster than any person ever … 9.58 seconds for 100 m.
If you read this phrase above at a good pace, it will take you approx. 9.5 to 10 seconds, at the same time (roughly) it took Bolt to anesthetize the world in 2009. But is he the fastest athlete on the planet?
Maybe not. It’s semantics.
While Bolt is definitely the fastest person to ‘run’, the ‘unofficial’ title of the fastest athlete can actually belong to a cyclist, a Dutchman called Harrie Lavreysen.
He is a track cyclist who, in the flying 200 m time trial, rushed around a velodrome of 9,088 seconds. It is a niche world record, but it is nonetheless raw power, strength and speeds over 80 km / h (and a bike) that combines to make an elite athlete very, very quickly.
Thirty years ago, track cyclists who tried this flying 200m world record fought to break the 10-second barrier, but now, like Bolt, revolutionized the idea of what’s possible in athletics, the pursuit of the modern sprint cyclist is not an evasive 10-second barrier, but breaking nine seconds.
Earlier this year, British course -printer Matt Richardson went faster than the Olympic Master Lavreyson over the flying 200 m with four hundredths of a second, but crucial to being ratified by UCI (Cycling’s world -leading body) as he briefly left the legal part of the track.
He has taken the experience, the necessary knowledge, and he now not only wants to break the flying 200 m world record, but to become the first ever to go for nine seconds.
So British cycling thinks outside the box to challenge their riders. There are world championships later in the year, but no Olympics, so why not do something a little different?
On Thursday on a track in Konya, Turkey, three British riders, along with only four support staff, will go to an empty velodrome and try to bring back to the UK not only one but three world records!
Richardson is of course one. This speed, the flash-of-a-eye world record he hunts, has him incredibly focused, even occupied.
When asked what he wanted was the world record or to break nine seconds he told Sky Sports: “I will be disappointed if I do not break the nine second barrier I will go.
“The world record is what it is, so if I go under nine (seconds) then I’ll take the record, I’ll be the first person ever to do it.
“I know it can be done, I was close (earlier this year), but now I have better knowledge of the track, I have better equipment and I drive at a good time of day.”
Richardson first began to compete for Britain last year after Paris -ol, won two silver medals and a bronze competing for Australia.
Since then, in GB colors (he was born in England), he won two gold on his debut at the Nations Cup and three sprint titles at the British championships.
He is not the only Brit that wants to rewrite the record books in Turkey. Two riders will try new world records in one hour hour. Para-cyclist Will Bergfelt has a goal of driving longer than 47,569 km in 60 minutes. This record in the C5 category has stood for 11 years, so there is confidence from the British team that Bergfelt’s experience and technological advances mean that he will not only beat the world record but add a lot to a new one.
An hour of hour’s record is, well, terrible. Terrible for the rider, even if they love to ride a bike.
It hurts both physically and mentally, and at any time during the 60 minutes on track, any record attempt can go badly wrong if a balance is not beaten between maximum speed and energy saving.
In addition to Bergfelt’s C5 record attempt, Charlie Tanfield will attack the Italian Filippo Ganna’s world record of 56,792 km in one hour.
Britain’s Charlie Tanfield will try to break men’s track record on one hour Thursday
If he sets a new world record, he will pretty much cycle a mile every minute he’s out on the field. He told me Sky Sports: “I divide it into three parts, the first one that comes up in speed, the second wrap it up and then the third part I am pretty much at my maximum threshold in the last 30 minutes or so. It is terrible.
“The last 10 minutes are just, well, terrible! I’m not sure I can go the next day or for a few days after that.
“All I want to do is do my very best. If I perform it well, I’ll be happy with anything.”
The three world record attempts from British cycling take place on Thursday, August 14 in Konya, Turkey.
– 0800 (BST/UK): Will Bergfelt will try to break C5 one hour track record.
– 1015 (BST/UK): Charlie Tanfield will try to break the gentlemen’s track record.
– 1400 (BST/UK): Matt Richardson will try to break the flying 200m test post.