EUGENE, Ore. — Minutes after running his own blazing time, 9.83, in the men’s 100-meter semifinals, Justin Gatlin leaned over a metal fence to catch a glimpse of a nearby monitor showing Trayvon Bromell clock a 9.86 to nearly match the four-time Olympic medalist’s leading pace.
Pausing briefly to speak with reporters, Gatlin made it known that his time — the best performance of his season and the best by any U.S. sprinter in 2016 — was not his best: I’ve got more in the tank for the final, he said.
Little more than an hour later, Gatlin and Bromell returned to the track and improved upon already impressive times: Gatlin ran a 9.80, Bromell a 9.84 and Marvin Bracy a 9.98 in the men’s final, completing the three-man U.S. 100-meter team headed to the upcoming Rio Games.
Afterward, Gatlin gave the U.S. team’s goal: We’re going for a sweep, he said.
“I came in with one of the top times, but I knew that at this thing everyone will come in on the top of their game,” Bracy said.
The numbers come at an opportune time for the U.S. sprinters, who heading into the Olympic trials had lagged behind the world’s best in 2016. Before Sunday, the five leading performers worldwide this season hailed from elsewhere: France’s Jimmy Vicaut (9.86 and 9.88), Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (9.88), Qatar’s Femi Ogunode (9.91) and Turkey’s Jak Ali Harvey (9.92) had all notched faster times than any American in 2016.
The strong times also serve to change the perception of the U.S. team before Rio: While the U.S. team boasted a certain level of quantity, the quality was seemingly lacking. Now, the fanfare that will inevitably surround this team of U.S. sprinters is buttressed by the group’s newfound international bona fides.
“Hey man, I was just trying to get me a ticket,” said Gatlin, who qualified for his fourth Olympic Games. “I was trying to get me a ticket on that boat going to Rio. My parents have a ticket, my family has a ticket, so it put the pressure on me to make sure I punch my ticket.”
Sunday’s showing still doesn’t erase the doubts circling around the U.S. 100-meter competitors in Olympic competition, a development dating back as far as 1992. The USA has won only bronze in the event during each of the past two Olympic Games after back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2004; there was a similar drought in 1992 and 1996, which saw the USA win only a single bronze.
Bolt alone provides what might be a nearly insurmountable task for the U.S. team to overcome. Despite a recent hamstring injury that removed the reigning gold medalist from the Jamaican team trials, Bolt is expected to represent his country in Rio — and even as injuries continue to mount for the 29-year-old, his top 2016 time came just weeks ago at a Grand Prix meet in Kingston.
Of course, there’s always the chance that Bolt’s hamstring prevents him from defending his back-to-back gold medals — though several American sprinters, including Bromell, who shares an agent with the Jamaican star, said they believe Bolt will race in Rio.
“You want the best of the best to step up to the line,” Bromell said.
Yet hope springs eternal, seen most clearly in the rapid development of a group of young sprinters prepared to fill an upcoming void. While he has yet to make an announcement, it is assumed that this will be the final Olympic Games for Gatlin, 34. Other U.S. veterans, such as Michael Rodgers, 31, and Tyson Gay, 33, failed to qualify.
He’s beginning to feel the aches and pains associated with his age, Gatlin said.
“This year, I had little knocks and bruises — ankles, quads, hamstring, things like that,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m taking it each race at a time. When the competition shows and the competition rises I’ve got to rise to the occasion with it.”
But in Bromell and Bracy the USA hopes to have located the next generation of Olympic-level sprinters. Bromell, 20 — who captured bronze in the 100 in the world championships last year — led all qualifiers in the opening heats held on Saturday, and nipped at Gatlin’s heels during the final.
The Olympic bid caps a month-long roller coaster for the Baylor University product, who posted medal-caliber times after battling back from a slight Achilles tear suffered prior to an event in Birmingham, Ala., in early June.
“A lot of people doubted me,” he said. “But one thing that I read in the Bible … it said if you have faith in God, everything’s good. I believe that. So everybody who doubted me, hey, you doubted God’s power, not me.”
Now, as Gatlin serves as the centerpiece and mouthpiece for the U.S. team, Bromell and Bracy stand as the future.
“It’s a new era of sprinters coming along,” Gatlin said. “These guys have a lot of heart, a lot of guts, a lot of grit, and when it’s time for me to leave rest assured that Trayvon, Marvin Bracy … I’m going to pass the torch to those guys.”
Said Bracy, “It’s time for the new sheriff.”
It’s a point Gatlin disputes: “I guess there’s enough room in the precinct for everybody, man,” he said. “But it’s not about numbers, it’s about letters — it’s about W’s.”
►In a scintillating women's 100, English Gardner ran a personal-best 10.74, ahead of Tianna Bartoletta and Tori Bowie (both at 10.78). It's the first time three Olympic qualifiers have bettered 10.80.
