Maurice Greene speaks on Christian Coleman, his WR and how fast he can run the 100 meters!

By Larry Eder on February 22, 2018 9:19 AM | 0 Comments

DSC03944.jpgRunBlogRun's Larry Eder and Maurice Greene, 2000 Olympic champion, 100 meters, at adidas Hospitality at London World Championships, August 2017, photo by Mike Deering for The Shoe Addicts

Christian Coleman has captured the interest of track fans worldwide with his winter of sprinting. On January 19, 2018, at Clemson's Athletic Fieldhouse, Christian Coleman ran a 6.45 in the semi finals, then, 90 minutes later, ran 6.37. The time bettered Maurice Greene's World record of 6.39, which Maurice, who dominated sprinting from 1997-2001. Maurice Greene ran 6.39 twice, in March 1998, and in March 2001.

Coleman_ChristianWR-USind18.jpGChristian Coleman, photo by PhotoRun.net

Through no fault of his own, Christian Coleman's time of 6.37 would not qualify for a World Record. There was no electronic blocks in Clemson, nor a Zero Gun, which allows the officials to test the blocks and see if they can identify a false start. The final nail in the record coffin was the lack of drug testing at the event. So, the 60 meter WR stayed with Maurice Greene.

At the US Indoor Champs February 16-18, Christian Coleman ran 6.46 in round 1 and his obvious shut downs just after midway in the races had the fans excited. On Sunday, February 18, Christian ran 6.43 in a very relaxed manner in the semi-final.

His final, the last event of the meet was a perfect send off for the US Indoor nationals. The start was not that good, yet, Christian Coleman began to fly just around 30 meters. Christian Coleman stretched out his arms, and took the finish line in 6.34, a new World Record, if ratified, by .05!

Coleman-Baker-USin18.JPGChristian Coleman, Ronnie Baker, USATF Indoors, photo by PhotoRun.net

Christian Coleman sure picked the right place to set this WR. There were electronic blocks, a Zero Gun, and of course, drug testing. The IAAF released a press release about the pending WR within an hour of the event.

We reached out to Maurice Greene, World Champion in 1997, 1999 and 2001 in the 100 meters, Olympic gold medalist, 100 meters in 2000 and Olympic bronze medalist over 100 meters in 2004. Maurice also won the 200 meters in 1999, and gold medalst at 4x100m in 1999. In the Olympic 4x100 meters, Maurice, as a member of US team, took silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004. And finally, in Maebishi, Japan Maurice took the 60m title at World Indoors in 1999!

DSC03943.jpgLarry Eder (RunBlogRun) and Maurice Greene (adidas Ambassador), London World Champs 2017, August 2017, photo by Mike Deering for The Shoe Addicts

Maurice Greene is a great observer of the sport. In 2016 Rio and in 2017 London, RunBlogRun hosted the Maurice & Larry show, where Maurice and I spoke about observations on competition in there rareified global venues.

We texted Maurice and asked him three questions. Here's Maurice's responses:

RunBlogRun, 1. What did you think of Christian Coleman's race?
Maurice Greene: "Wow he can even get better because he did not have the best start."
RunBlogrun, 2. You noted he can run a bit faster over 60 meters, how fast can he go over 100 meters?
Maurice Greene: "I know he's definitely going to run 9.7 but if he clean some things up maybe 9.6 is in his future."
RunBlogRun, 3. If you were providing an athlete such as Christian with some advise, what might you tell him?
Maurice Greene: " I do talk to Christian and we talk about making the whole race smooth and work on the little things, not to try to perfect everything...Neither him or I believe that we have run the perfect race."
So, now you have heard it from a man who knows. Christian can run faster over 60 meters and has great potential over the 100 meters! Looking forward to seeing Christian Coleman at Birmingham and this coming summer.
Larry Eder

Larry Eder

Bio: Larry Eder has had a 44 year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub 4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Track & Field to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself."

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