May 31, New York, Landers Island, Manhattan.

A storm of thunder and lightning gathered in the sky, thundering and rolling in all directions, and heavy rain poured down.

And even in such bad weather, the 5,000 spectator seats under the cantilevered roof of Icahn Stadium were once again full, and the cacophony of whistles and cheers was incessant, almost masking the occasional rumbling of thunder.

"Sold out" signs hung outside the spectator seats, all seats were flattened, and thousands of people gathered on the grassy slope outside the stadium to watch the game.

The 2008 IAAF World Tour New York Grand Prix attracted almost the attention of the whole United States, and countless track and field enthusiasts have been waiting for this race since the beginning of this year.

At 21:20 in the evening, more than a dozen lighting towers erected in various corners of the stadium illuminate the entire stadium as if it were daylight.

As the camera was focused on the starting line, the big screen at Icahn Stadium and NBC Sports, which was responsible for broadcasting the game, all showed images of the nine athletes participating in the men's 100m fly.

first, Walter Dix of the United States;

second, Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson;

third, Jamaica's Michael Flat;

fourth lane, American Tyson Gay;

fifth lane, American Justin Gatlin;

sixth lane, Jamaica's Usain Bolt;

the seventh, the Netherlands Antilles, scurandi-Martina;

lane eight, Bahamian Derek Atkins;

lane nine, Davis Barton of the United States;

Whether it's in front of the TV or on the live screen, almost most of the shots are aimed at the three people in the middle.

NBC Sports, in particular, invited the men's 200m and 400m legend Michael "Forrest Gump" Johnson to the live commentary of the race, and almost before the start of the race, the focus of the discussion was on Guy in lane 4 and Gatlin in lane 5.

This is the battle for the first brother of the American sprint industry.

In the more than a year since Gatling's ban and Guy's rise, Americans with almost a slight interest in sprinting have repeatedly discussed who is the fastest sprinter in the United States today.

And this discussion is hardly new, but has been gradually emerging since the rise of Tyson Gay in 2006.

At first, it was just a small circle of discussions, but gradually the scope continued to spread, and gradually gained some influence in the national track and field circles.

Both were born in 1982, but their careers are very different. When Guy was just an amateur, Justin Gatlin had already achieved great success in world sports. He won the men's 60m at the 2003 World Indoor Championships and the men's 100m at the 2004 Olympic Games, officially replacing Morris Green as the leading figure in American sprinting.

Guy, on the other hand, was a 200m runner when he first entered his career in 2005, and although he did well in the NCAA, he was not at the top. It wasn't until 2006 that Justin Gatlin was banned, and Tyson Gay switched to the 100m, and his time improved dramatically. Since then, he has faced Suzu and Powell one after another, after the World Championships in Osaka, although he failed to win the championship in the 1200 meters, the weight of the two silver medals is not low, and the performance has surpassed the performance of Gatlin in the World Championships in 05, and then led the American track and field team to win the gold medal in the 4×100m relay, which is really confirmed his status.

In many track and field enthusiasts across the United States, and even around the world, the debate about the two has never stopped.

Many of Justin Gatlin's supporters believe that Tyson Gay would not have been able to rise to prominence if it weren't for Gatlin's ban.

Gatling's fans scoffed at Gatlin, who was questioned and questioned about the ban, and Gatlin's pre-ban personal best was still a gap to last year's Tyson Gay World Championships in Osaka.

At this New York Grand Prix, it was finally an official duel between two people standing on the 100-meter track.

The other athlete who got a lot of footage from the live cameraman was the tallest black Jamaican player in the field.

A runner who has recently caused some waves in the American track and field world.

Usain Bolt grinned as he looked at the camera and put his right thumb and forefinger in a V-shaped shape on his chin, and he was always the most active and favorite one in track and field.

But as the camera moved away, his playful look faded away.

"He's not that good at all!"

"The game must have been a broken timer, and the clock at Kingston National Stadium was notoriously bad."

"If you look at his results in the next race in Port of Spain, you know there must be something wrong with the previous results."

A wave of doubts seemed to ring in my head again.

He doesn't care about these doubts, from the peak of his life at the 2004 World Junior Championships to the subsequent defeat at the Athens Olympics, he knows that as long as an athlete is on the field, whether he succeeds or fails, there will always be all kinds of voices from the outside world.

But, even if he doesn't care, a young man in his twenties is always a little unhappy!

On May 3, in the men's 100m race at the Jamaica Invitational, he won the championship with a time of 9.76 seconds and set a personal best.

It became Jamaica's second-best finish after Powell, and a top-five finish in the world.

But when a large number of people focused on the field, doubts came almost immediately.

His time of 9.76 seconds was cancelled! (Canceled at the time, later reinstated.) ）

The U.S. side, invited by the organizing committee, claimed that the timer must have broken and interfered with the impartiality of the referee.

And with his time of 9.92 seconds in Port of Spain on May 17, it is ironic that his record in Kingston is certainly not true.

The United States and Jamaica have a long-standing feud on the track and field, and how can they accept that after Suzu and Powell, another person has emerged to shake their rule.

After training intensively after last year's Osaka Grand Prix, Bolt has full confidence in himself, which comes from getting better and better, but his goal is still on the 200m.

It's the program he's trained the longest, and it's also his specialty, the one that best plays to his strengths.

Ahead of the Jamaica Invitational, Bolt wasn't clear about his position in the 100m.

Although he has surpassed Daniel Bailey one after another in training, training is training after all, and there are many times when the results run on the field are not real. Daniel Bailey's level is good, but he is not the top in the world.

The Jamaica Invitational was only his fourth official 100m race, and he ran a time of 9.76 seconds, which neither he nor his coach Glenn Mills could have imagined.

This result also took the American track and field world by surprise.

Before the World Championships in Osaka, 9.80 seconds was almost a watershed in the measurement of a top athlete, and after the World Championships in Osaka, this measure was even raised to 9.75 seconds by some good media.

There are only three people in the world athletics who can run 9.75 seconds, Suzu, Tyson Gay, and Asafa Powell.

To be able to run 9.80 seconds, add two more Justin Gatlin and Morris Green.

Since the 2004 Olympics, Morris Green is now almost on the verge of retirement, on the one hand, because of his physical condition and injuries, and on the other hand, because of the rapid development of sprint athletics in recent years, he is no longer able to compete with the younger generation of athletes.

In terms of numbers, even if the U.S. track and field world loses the world record, it has always made up the most of the top athletes (not to mention the middle and reserve forces, the U.S. has always been at the top of the list).

But now, Jamaican 200m athlete Usain Bolt has announced his entry into the world's top sequence in the men's 100m with a time of 9.76 seconds after switching to the 100m. This time also surpassed Justin Gatlin's personal best of 9.77 seconds at the 2006 Doha Grand Prix.

In the current top five results in the world, there is a situation of one Chinese, two Americans, and two Jamaicans.

This is by no means good news for the current American track and field world.

Since 2004, the sprinting events in world athletics have fallen in popularity due to the "Balco Laboratory" scandal and have been questioned by many people.

But with Asafa Powell breaking the previous Maurice Green world record, Suzu, Justin Gatlin, and Guy appearing one after another, and the media hyped up the peak showdown, the sprint event is still the hottest sporting event.

In recent years, Jamaica has gradually become the most formidable challenge in the United States, whether it is the men's 1200-meter sprint, the women's 1200-meter sprint, or the men's 110-meter hurdles and women's 100-meter hurdles.

Looking at the finals of various world-class track and field competitions in recent years, it is not the first time that three American athletes and three Jamaican athletes have competed in the same field among the eight finalists.

The emergence of Su Zu can be said to be the rise of sprinting events in Asia, or China.

The U.S. track and field community will see it as a threat to the championship, but in fact, Su Zu is the same as Liu Yangyu in the men's 110m hurdles, even if the two can defeat the American athlete and win the gold medal and win the world record, to a certain extent, it can only be an outstanding performance of personal talent and strength.

In terms of the overall follow-up talent pool and training mechanism, it is far behind the United States.

In the current world, in the sprint event, only Jamaica has caught up with the United States in almost all aspects, from the selection of athletes, to the training of serialization, as well as the atmosphere of folk track and field and the performance of the field.

This is the great challenge that will really shake his dominance.

This is also the reason why the United States is reluctant to see a second Powell appear in Jamaica, one Powell can be attributed to outstanding individual talent, but the second, third, fourth...... The emergence of talented players is not only a personal factor for athletes.

This is also the grievance between the track and field circles of the two countries, there is only one hegemon, and he will naturally be disgusted and vigilant in the face of any challenger.

Usain Bolt was well aware of this, and at the Jamaica Invitational, he and Spearmon were upset by many for a walk in the arena after the game, and Spearmon later called him to tell him that his coach was disgusted by his praise in the post-match interview.

"Don't say anything nice about Usain Bolt, you have to say you're going to beat him!" Don't say he's a great athlete! Don't smile when you mention him on TV! Don't mess around with him! Did you hear me clearly?'

It was really interesting when Bolt heard Spearmon retell the "order" that his coach had given.

Eyes wandering over the riders around him, whether it was Tyson Gay in lane 4 or Justin Gatlin in lane five, Bolt didn't have much thought or pressure at this moment, this was his fifth 100m race.

Competing with the best athletes in the world today, if you win, of course, is ecstatic. Who cares if they lose?

"Relax, Usain, this is our first real test since we competed in the 100m, and maybe we'll surprise the Yankees again!"