Guys, the football World Cup medal table is already put away and my post-World Cup hangover was lasting, until athletics gave me the high I needed. I don't know if you've seen what happened at the last big meeting of the season, but the Spanish sprinter has broken all the clocks and everyone is freaking out. I'm following the 2026 World Cup closely, but this athletics thing has me hooked and I wanted to share it with you.
Turns out the 21-year-old kid stopped the clock at 9.89 seconds, a record that not even the Americans expected at this point of the year. The die-hard fans say he's the new Bolt, the more cautious ones say he still has to prove it in a big championship, and I, who get excited easily, think this is the start of something big. I mean, if he does this at 21, at 24 he'll eat us all.
Note this: the Spanish 100m record had been 14 years in the hands of the previous owner, and this kid has smashed it twice this same season. Spanish athletics hasn't seen such a gem since the Olympic double some years ago.
The best thing is that he doesn't just run, he has a stride that looks like it's from a video game. The slow-motion cameras are amazing, and the photos taken by the meeting photographers are frame-worthy. I'll leave you some captures I've rescued so you can see the explosion of power:
But anyway, I want to open a debate here, because that's what I like. Because it's not just that he wins, it's how he's changing the view of European athletics. We've been saying for years that sprinters have to be from Jamaica or the United States, that Europeans have nothing to do in sprint events. And now comes a kid from Logroño (or wherever, I don't want to put my foot in it) and plants our flag in the final of the next Athletics World Championships. Coincidence or a change of cycle?
Because I'm not going to lie to you, I saw it: in the semifinal he was fifth, and in the last 30 meters he made a change of pace that left the Los Angeles Olympic Games trembling. From lane two, against the wind, and still he nailed the best world mark of the year. That comeback takes guts, and it's not from a lucky guy, it's from a guy who trains smart.
The 9.89 in a semifinal without pushing means the kid has plenty of gas in the tank. The coaches consulted say he can go under 9.80 before the end of the year. And at 21, that's talking about a historical Top 5 future.
And here comes the million-dollar question, the one that has me bothered with my forum colleagues: will his level last when the pressure of a World Championship or an Olympics arrives? Because in meetings everyone runs loose, but in big finals the nerves are different. I've seen many a sprinter fly in the meets and then mess up at the start when there are 80.000 people watching. This kid has a cool head that reminds me of the best moment of La Roja, but it's not so easy to keep it.
Look, I don't want to be a pain with the data, but the statistics say it: the last 5 Olympic champions in the 100m all had a previous mark better than his before turning 22. And of those 5, four went down in history as legends. Let's hope I don't end up sounding like a statistician, but this only happens once every twenty years.
Watch out, I haven't forgotten the dark side of athletics. Every time a talent like this appears, the media already starts with the doubts: "where does he train?", "with whom?", "what does he eat?". It's not fair for the kid, but that's how it is. I hope that this time the environment protects him well.
Moreover, I think this comes in handy for the next cycle. I think about every detail: the stride, the cadence, the way he moves his arms. It's like he's a biomechanical animal. I'll leave here a couple of comparative photos I found of the before and after of the meeting, so you can see the physical evolution of the athlete since his debut two years ago:
Now the most important thing for the debate I want to set up here: do you think this level is real or is it a mid-season mirage? Because it's not the same to be the best in August as in next year's championships. I, being a dreamer, say this is the beginning of an era, but many tell me I'm rushing, that it will end up like other cases that promised and fell by the wayside.
I don't want to go to the extreme of saying we already have Bolt's heir either, that's not the plan. But I admit the feelings are good, guys. If next season he confirms it with a medal at the European Championship, we're going to have a blast watching athletics on the forum. And to those who say this isn't football, let me remind you that sprinting has always been the king sport of summer in the Games.
Anyway, I'll leave the poll here for you, which is what's cool:
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