Young Grenadian quarter-miler Bralon Taplin, who finished 7th in the men’s 400m world record race, said Wayde van Niekerk has opened “mental barriers” in the event.
Taplin, who finished in 44.45, watched from back, as Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, ran smoothly out of lane eight to cross the finish line in 43.03, shattering Michael Johnson’s 43.18 record.
“It was always said that, that record will never be broken, yea so for him to break that record has opened mental barriers,” Taplin said.
“I want to say for every 400m runner, it was once said that many people couldn’t run sub-43, so now that he broke the record and close to break that barrier of running 43, at least for me, now my goal for next year is to run 43s.”
The 27-year-old Grenadian recounted the race and the challenging lane eight for van Niekerk.
“I think of every scenario possible, so one of my scenario was, he is going get out hard cause he doesn’t know what’s going on behind him,” explained Taplin.
Taplin continued: “So maybe he gets out too hard and every 400m runner know that if you come to the 200m too fast you going crash and burn, so me being a competitor and knowing that he is in lane 8, that’s a possibility for anyone. Being in lane 8, the chances are more real, cause you can’t see what’s going on behind you. But I know he is great; he is a wonderful 400m runner, so there is also a chance he might gets out hard and he hold it too, I mean that was one of the scenarios I played in my head.”
Taplin gave commendations to van Niekerk for doing such a good job from running in lane 8. “He ran a wonderful race and the time tells… I mean that’s crazy, he almost ran 42s”
Taplin who made his first Olympic finals, was in complete shock, after seeing the new World Record and stated that it was one of the best races of all time and compared it to Usain Bolt’s 19.19s back in Berlin 2009.
He said when he saw the time flash on the screen, he was like ” I didn’t believe it. I thought it was going round up, cause you know when the time stops it rounds up sometimes, and when I saw 43.03s, I was like is it rounding up, it is rounding up and then it said World Record, I said oh my God. That’s one of the greatest races ever its as good as Usain Bolt’s 19.19″
It was better than Bolt’s 200m WR. For three reasons
1. It’s 400m so a lot harder
2. It was from Lane 8 which is crazy. Bolts 200m WC was from a middle lane which is far easier bend to run
3. The margin with what he smashed the previous record was larger
It was better than Bolt’s 200m WR. For three reasons
1. It’s 400m so a lot harder
2. It was from Lane 8 which is crazy. Bolts 200m WC was from a middle lane which is far easier bend to run
3. The margin with what he smashed the previous record was larger