The 14-year 100-metre record held by Jamaican legend Usain Bolt is at risk of ‘falling next year’, says former Kittian World Champion Kim Collins. 

Collins, who guest appeared on the Antiguan ‘Good Morning Jojo’ sports show over the weekend, contended that while Bolt’s 9.58-second mark is impressive, advancements by the current batch of athletes could very well threaten the record. 

It was not clear whether Collins’ foreshadowing would align with the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, circuit races in the Wanda Diamond League or any other development meet.

“Well, it could happen as early as next year because the envelope and the barrier is being pushed all the time and it just takes the right conditions, not so much the person,” he began.

“Sometimes things are just right, the track is nice, the weather is nice, the crowd is energetic and the crowd is out there cheering and shouting and you had a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. The field is packed and everybody now ready and the gun is going to go off and we see what happens but it is possible,” Collins said.  

Cementing an unprecendent run of dominance, Bolt shattered his own 9.69s world record in the men’s final of the 100m at the Berlin World Championships in Berlin, Germany, with a sensational 9.58s timing to defeat joint second-fastest man alive Tyson Gay and compatriot Asafa Powell, who claimed silver and bronze respectively. 

In Collins’ eyes, competition between athletes has never been higher as sprinters eagerly seek to challenge Bolt’s once-presumed ‘untouchable’ record—setting the ‘perfect stage’ for something truly magical.

“People pay to see you run … The hurdlers will line up, the shot putters will line up but when it comes to the men’s 100 they want to pick and choose when they race,” he argued,

“In the days of Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson and those guys like Linford Christie, it was more brutal because these guys came to race and there was no joking about it. They would let you know you are not going to be the champions, not going to win and so it was different back then, it was not just sitting back and letting you go and have fun because that’s not how this works, not as a sprinter, we come to spoil your show,” Collins mused further.

It was also unclear from the Antiguan Observer‘s report on Collins yesterday whether the retired sportsman identified any athlete from the current cadre of competitors to break Bolt’s record. 

Currently, however, Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala holds the world leading time among men this year at 9.85s, ahead of the United States’ Fred Kerley (9.88s) and Jamaican Ackeem Blake (9.89s).