“Boy Was Tripping Hard”: Christian Coleman’s Usain Bolt Comment Backfires After Shanghai Diamond League Display

With the Olympics looming, athletes often make bold predictions about their performance. Noah Lyles boldly declared his intent to dominate, suggesting that Usain Bolt’s era might end just days before the Shanghai Diamond League starts. Joining him was his arch-rival Christian Coleman, who echoed this sentiment and indicated that Bolt’s 100m record isn’t that hard.

“Honestly I feel like a lot of the guys who are competing today who are not that far off“. Coleman seemed to allude to Bolt’s 100m record of 9.58 seconds, implying it was within reach. But at the Shanghai Diamond League, all the sprinters ran only sub-10s time, flaring up the enthusiasts.

On April 28th, Eri Brown reposted Travis Miller’s tweet, mocking Coleman. The post displayed the 100m race scores from April 27th, with none, including Coleman, coming close to Bolt’s 9.58s record. Brown’s caption underscored the embarrassment of Coleman’s claim. “Wait, Coleman said a lot of them were close to running 9.58… which ones??”. Fans reacted swiftly, mocking Coleman’s assertion. One of them even called Coleman to chill.

Christian Coleman spoke too soon and provoke fans’ ire

Coleman’s enthusiastic comment, brimming with excitement, unexpectedly triggered a wave of backlash from fans in the comment section. Their responses reflected a mix of emotions, ranging from disappointment to mocking.

One fan sarcastically and cheekily remarked that Coleman was all time and no play. While this might have been derisive to him, it also remains to be seen if Coleman takes note of this and backs up his claims in the near future. In the below lineup, no one was close to the highly coveted 9.58 and this disparity was brought to the fore by the fan.

While another urged everyone to calm down, questioning who could run sub-10 seconds in April, stating that it wasn’t conducive nor possible given the circumstances to run a whopping under 10 seconds time, no matter how well equipped or prepped one is for an event. He might have said this tongue in cheek too, but this was the underlying implication of the fan.

Not done yet, another fan continued the rally by adding that no athlete on planet earth would even come close to Bolt’s iconic record. It remains to be seen if this is something that will be taken at face value or if a freak of nature suddenly emerges and turns the tables.

To this, yet another netizen humorously added a comment stating that Bolt should be used as a viable frame of reference to Coleman and the other athletes to show us all what 9.58 really means, in track parlance. This was yet another subtle yet insightful remark into the fallacy claimed by Coleman.

Lastly, keeping things in mind that 2024 is the Olympic year, a fan said that the athletes need to be on the top of their game and put their best foot forward, provided that Coleman is a world-leading phenom and shouldn’t be clocking dismal over 10 scores. What is bound to happen? Time will dictate the course of events further.

This incident underscores the unpredictability of sports and the danger of premature assertions. As the athletes gear up for the Olympics, they’ll need to focus on their performance rather than making grandiose claims. What is your take here? Do you agree with fans? Share your thoughts in comment.