Fastest Yet

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 721, 22 July 1929, Page 11

Fastest Yet

CRACK AMERICAN VARSITY ATHLETE RUNS SPRINT IN SIX YARDS UNDER EVEN TIME. BEATING STRING OF JOINT WORLD'S RECORDS I NEW TIME: 9 2-5 SECONDS A -O-year-old youth with a shock of brown hair, who started his brilliant career on th© cinderpath by reques . last month became th© fastest sprinter of the age. He* is George Simpson, a lithe, spindle-legged streak from Ohio State University. Competing with the fastest field ever brought together in an American meet, this srailitv. Buckeye streaked down th© 100-yard stretch in th© National Collegia!* A A. track and field championship at Chicago in 9 4-10 sec., clipping two tenths of & second irom th* officially recognised world x mark. Simpson s time, of course, is equlve - lent to 9 S-6, onetilth of a second better than th© former record held jointly by D. J. Kell* . Howard Drew’, Charles Paddock. Cyrd Coaffee and Chester Bowman. In recent years track organisations have adopted th© system of timing runninr races in tenths of seconds. Thte mov# was made for closer timing and watches divided in tenths of seconds are being used. Three tim*s this season 9impson was credited with 9 5-10s»c and twice with 9 6-10 sec performances. Simpson, in his startling victory, defeated the famous Claude Bracey, th© Dixie flyer from Rice Institute, and Eddie Tolan, sensational sprinter from th© University of Michigan, who twice within two weeks had run the century in 9 5-10 sec. Simpson, putting his heart and soul into every step of the race, and running with machine-like smoothnes.s, beat Bracey to the tape by a stride, in a heart-breaking finish. Tolan was third, about six feet behind Bracey. The Wolverine got away to a poor start, was trailing sixth at the half-way mark, but finished with a remarkable burst of speed. Simpson got away from the mark like a shot and led from start to finish. with Bracey snapping at his heels. TRACK CORRECT: NO WIND Officials said there could be no question as to the acceptance of his record. He was timed by five watches. Two of the timers caught him in 9 3-10 and three clicked in 9 4-10. Engineers immediately measured the track and found it measured 100 yards and one inch. Conditions were almost perfect for Simpson’s record-breaking performance. The track was dry and fast. There was no breeze to aid him in his flight; instead there was a moderate wind blowing across the course. SIMPSON HIGHEST SGjDRER Simpson, who began his track career as a boy in Columbus, when the high school coach yanked him out of a crowd and told him to run, was the highest individual point winner of the meet, scoring 20. After his world’s record-breaking performance in the century he came back to defeat virtually the same field in winning the 220 yard dash in 2ft 8-Ift, equal to Paddock’s world’s record.