EN
After struggling with a sluggish start at the Taipei World University Games late last month Tada was back to his usual form, quick out of the blocks to open an early lead over Kiryu and the rest of the field. But over the second half Kiryu continued to build, passing Tada and dipping across the line to stop the clock at 9.99. The crowd erupted, but with the memory of Koji Ito's 10.00 national record, initially a 9.99 that was adjusted to 10.00 in the official results, the noise dimmed slightly as people waited for the official result to come up.
Then, with a 9.98 (+1.8 m/s) appearing nest to Kiryu's name, all the pent-up expectation of an entire nation exploded. A wave of sound, people jumping up and down and screaming, race officials falling over backward, Kiryu's coaching staff crying, and above it all, the sheer sound. Everybody knew this day was coming, that it was just a matter of one of the six, Kiryu, Tada, Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, Aska Cambridge, Ryota Yamagata or Shota Iizuka, getting it right. There was too much momentum, too much belief, for it not to happen. And with the possible exception of Yamagata, there's nobody most of the public would have liked to see get there first more than Kiryu.
