Night of Speed
The Night of Speed was the rare occurrence when three men set the world record in the 100 metres in the same track meet.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
History
On Thursday, June 20, 1968, two semi-final races were held as part of the AAU National Championships held at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California.
At the time, the world record for the 100 metres was 10.0 seconds, hand timed, set and equalled over the years by Armin Hary (Germany) and Harry Jerome (Canada) in 1960, Horacio Esteves (Venezuela) and Bob Hayes (United States) in 1964, Jim Hines (United States) and Enrique Figuerola (Cuba) in 1967, and by Paul Nash (South Africa) and Oliver Ford (United States) earlier in 1968. Earlier in the day, with the maximum allowable wind of 2.0 metres per second (7.2 km/h; 4.5 mph), Roger Bambuck (France) and Charles Greene (United States) had again tied the world record.
With an aiding wind of 0.8 m/s (2.9 km/h; 1.8 mph), Hines won the first semi-final, timed in 9.9 seconds, to set the new world record, but in second place
Later that evening, Greene went on to win the National Championship, in a wind aided 10.0 seconds.[8][9]
Later that year, with the
It is worth noting that Bob Hayes was timed at 9.9 seconds four years earlier in the final of the 100 metres at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The official time was given as 10.0 seconds because of an idiosyncratic method of measuring the 'hand' times, which were only used at that Olympics.
See also
References
- ^ "Cricket Collectables Olympics athletics memorabilia Cricket Collectables Affordable Gift or Investment". Cricketcollectables.net. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "Track & Field News • View topic - 100 m of 1968 AAU championship". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
- ^ "Trio crack world mark in century". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 21 June 1968. p. 2B.
- ^ "Hines, Greene, Smith set 100 meter record of 9.9". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. 21 June 1968. p. 9.
- ^ Underwood, John (1 July 1968). "Some old boys make a stand". Sports Illustrated: 32.
- ^ "'Night of Speed' and other tales from Sacramento's rich track history". Sacramento Sports Commission. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ "Past Results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ "USA Track & Field - USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions". Usatf.org. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "Sprinters sensational". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. 21 June 1968. p. 15.
- ^ Green, Bob (15 October 1968). "Hines, Matson first Yank gold medal winners". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 4B.
- ^ "Smith, Ashford now 'World's fastest'". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. 4 July 1983. p. 17.
- ^ Moore, Kenny (10 July 1983). "The fastest doubleheader ever". Sports Illustrated: 28.