The 100 meter race is always the most intriguing and exciting discipline at all major competitions. When it comes to the Boris Hanžeković Memorial, it’s enough to say that the meeting record of a blazing 9.85 seconds is held by the world record holder and the greatest sprinter of all time, Usain Bolt.
Since 2011, this record has been unsuccessfully challenged by almost all the world’s top sprinters in Zagreb, with Marvin Bracy coming closest two years ago, missing it by just a hundredth of a second. Judging by the names of the sprinters who have confirmed their participation in the 73rd Boris Hanžeković Memorial, Bolt’s record will once again be seriously threatened.
African record holder and World Championships finalist, Ferdinand Omanyala, holds a personal best of 9.77, and this year he has been ranked fourth with 9.84. Kishane Thompson, a 22-year-old Jamaican, equaled Bolt’s Zagreb record at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen on Saturday with 9.85 in a remarkably fast race.
Thompson’s sensational and equally young compatriot, Oblique Seville, ran 9.86 this spring, and at the World Championship final, he finished fourth in 9.88. Adding to this trio is another World Championship finalist, Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, whose personal best is 9.97. With these impressive athletes, the race at the Mladost Stadium on Sunday, 10 September, is guaranteed to be thrilling.