4. TRAYVON BROMELL
A goldfish has no hiding place! Same can be said of USA’s Trayvon Bromell whose talent has afforded him the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with Track and Field royalty within the short span of his Athletics career. Bromell first broke 10s as a 17-year old, recording the fastest time ever run by a High School athlete in the 100m (9.99s); he also won the 100m at the USA Junior Championships that same year (2013).
2014 had a lot more in store for the American who ran the World Junior Record (WJR) of 9.97s to win the NCAA Championships. He thereafter competed at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Oregon where he took Silver in the 100m and Gold in the 4x100m relay. He announced his qualification for the Beijing World Championships with a bang when he clocked 9.84s in heats of the men’s 100m at the US Trials, becoming the fastest teenager in history.
The time also makes him joint 10th with the Canadian pair of Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin on the all-time list. He thereafter ran a wind-aided 9.76s in the semis and placed 2nd to Tyson Gay in the final with a time of 9.96s. Bromell demonstrated that his performance was no fluke as he went on to win his heat with 9.91s at the World Championships where he was making his debut.
He took 3rd position in the semis but was rejuvenated for the final where he emerged joint 3rd with Canada’s Andre Grasse, another youngster, to upset a stacked field comprising of some the world’s best sprinters ever including Gay and Asafa Powell. Eager to consolidate on his Beijing success ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics, Bromell turned pro in October after signing an endorsement deal with New Balance, thus ending his college running career. We will be watching out for Bromell come Rio 2016!
