byLarry Eder
Donavan Brazier, 2019 NB Indoor GP, photo by PhotoRun.net
2019 was an amazing year for Donavan Brazier.
It began with the indoor season. His 1:44.41 set a new AR over 800m. His scintilating 1:13.77 over 600m set a world best indoors.
But it was outdoors that Brazier lit up the athletics world. Outdoors, Donavan Brazier not only used his tremendous leg speed, but also, a decisive finish emerged. In the past, his finish had been, at some times, tentative.
Under the watchful eye of Coach Pete Julian, Donavan Brazier developed his endurance, fine tuned his speed and continued to race in a confident manner. Using his leg speed to his advantage, Brazier won races decisively. His masterful win over Nijel Amos, in the very last steps of the race portended what was to come!
Brazier’s win at the US Outdoor Championships was decisive and done with surgical precision. In the final of the World Championships, Brazier went out fast, but kept his cool until 500m, when he blew by and did not look back. His lead increased over the last 200 meters, giving him the largest winning margin in World Championship history! The 1:42.34 that Donavan Brazier set in winning the World Championships was also the new AR, finally improving on the three plus decades of Johnny Gray’s AR!
For this writer, the overending memory of Donavan Brazier was that frenetic move to the lead, at 500 meters, and then, the decisive, brutal increase in speed at 600 meters, as Donavan destroyed any doubts in his racing ability. Mark my word, Donavan Brazier is the second coming. This guy has everything: speed, endurance, desire, and an uncanny and now confident ability to take the lead and, smelling blood, take the race to its fruition, a victory. Brazier may not have known it two years ago, but he knows it now: he was meant to race 800m, and he is meant to be a champion. Watching Brazier racing is watching a great one. Do it while you can. You can do it at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on January 25!
Donavan Brazier won titles indoor and outdoors, plus the Diamond League and World Championships! Just what will he do in 2020? Well, we do know that Donavan Brazier will open that campaign over 600m at the 2020 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, the first stop on the 2020 World Athletics Indoor Tour!
To get tickets, go to www.nbindoorgrandprix.com !
