Skip to main content

Chasing Bolt


As a boy growing up in Barbados it would have been impossible to avoid following the success' of Usain Bolt. The Jamaican sprinter has captured the world's imagination for the last nine years and is arguably the greatest sprinter of all time. Bolt announced that the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London would be his final competition, so everyone in the track & field world is waiting to see if someone can beat Bolt in his last race.

Among those vying for Bolt's crown is Barbados' own Mario Burke. The rising junior for the Cougars has been getting primed for international competition these last two years. After missing out on the Olympics last summer, Burke is ready for his first senior level international meet.

Burke punched his ticket to London by becoming the Barbados 100m national champion with a time of 10.12s.

This after a season where Burke not only found success in the relay, helping the Cougars win the NCAA 4x100m national championship, but individually as well. Burke qualified for both the NCAA National Championships in the sprints, 60m for Indoor and 100m for Outdoor, and won the American Athletic Conference Indoor 60m championship.

Burke also helped the Barbados 4x100m relay team qualify for Worlds at the IAAF World Relays. There Burke ran the first leg en route to Barbados' second place finish. Former teammate LeShon Collins will also be running for the USA relay team, and rising sophomore Brianne Bethel will be running for the Bahamas relay team.

It's been only two years since Burke won the double at the CARIFTA Games, making the world take notice. But now he has the chance to run against seasoned veterans like Justin Gatlin, Andre De Grasse, and hopefully Bolt.

Burke's campaign starts on Friday at 7pm London time. If all goes well the boy from Bridgetown will have a lot of momentum when he comes back to Houston.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eli Hall-Thompson, 2017 Track Athlete of the Meet

At the 2016 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, LeShon Collins was named the Track Athlete of the Meet after he won the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. That year the Cougar men won the conference title by a total of 55 points. This year the Cougars won by 44.50 points, 40 of which came from the contribution of junior sprinter Eli Hall-Thompson. Hall-Thompson, the NJCAA national champion, started championship Sunday on the anchor leg for the men's 4x100m relay. Along with junior Cameron Burrell and sophomore's Mario Burke and Jacarias Martin, the four won the race in a meet record 38.70s, a whole second faster than the runners up Connecticut. Then in the individual sprinting events, Hall-Thompson came into the final with the fastest 100m and 200m preliminary times. In the 100m he ran 10.11s and in the 200m he ran 20.40s. In the 100m final, running into a headwind, he nearly matched his preliminary time with a run of 10.19s. His time wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eli Hall-Thompson leads the way for Cougars on final day of Penn Relays

History was on the agenda as the Cougar men's track & field team started the final day of the Penn Relays. It had been 27 years since Head Coach Leroy Burrell set the 100m meet record at 10.10s and 28 years since the Cougars had won a relay at Penn. The Cougars were in prime position to make history in both events as three of their relay teams had qualified for their respective finals and three of the eight 100m finalists were members of the Cougar track & field team. Junior Eli Hall-Thompson qualified for the 100m final with the fastest time overall, 10.14s. He improved his time, running 10.00s to win the event. This marks the second straight 100m Penn Relays championship for the Cougars after LeShon Collins' victory in 2016. Were it not for the race taking place in non-legal wind conditions, Hall-Thompson's time would have been the new Penn record. His time is currently No. 5 in the country. Sophomore's Mario Burke and John Lewis III joined Hall-Thom...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cornelius looking to lead throwers to victory on home track

18.88m, that was senior Cameron Cornelius’ first mark of the outdoor season. Almost two months later it is still the top shot put distance in the American Athletic Conference. Now, after missing all of last season due to injury, Cornelius is on the doorstep of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. But before that, Cornelius will have to get through the competition at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. This meet has been a spot of frustration for Cornelius in his first two seasons as he has yet to win an outdoor shot put title. Now after winning his third indoor title in as many seasons, Cornelius is looking to finally complete the double. “My freshman year and my sophomore year I thought I had it in the bag,” Cornelius said. “I had pretty big throws out there. I thought no one could catch me, I thought I was fine. But in the last rounds they did catch me. So it’s mainly thinking that I could have a two foot PR but it’s still not safe no matter what....
Post a Comment
Read more