Maurice Greene, the World’s Fastest Man, flashed down the Garden track at last night’s Millrose Games, with Jon Drummond on his shoulder like a shadow. The finish line raced up to meet Greene, bringing possible defeat with it. And then, in the final 10 meters, he pulled away from Drummond as he had last year, and the year before that.
For the third straight winter, Drummond had pushed Greene to his limits in the 60-meter dash, only to lose in the final strides. And this time, Greene had to set a record to do it, christening the new Mondo track with a 6.45-second race to break his own Millrose mark by 1/100th of a second and falling 7/100ths shy of his 1998 world record.
Drummond, despite suffering from migraines, got out to a solid start. He pulled ahead of Ato Boldon and Reebok’s Brian Lewis, but Greene was patient and didn’t panic. He kept his form, ran even with Drummond up to the 50-meter mark, and pulled away to break the tape. Drummond finished in 6.50, and Lewis took third in 6.57. Boldon, running in his first race since straining his hamstring last season, finished fifth.
“I knew it was going to be tough. The field was great. Either one of us could’ve won,” Greene said of Drummond, his HSI teammate and training partner. “JD gave me a terrific race. He’s always had a great start; now he’s showing he has a great finish, too.
“Last year I opened with 6.46, and I set a world record. This year I opened with 6:45; we’ll see. I’m stronger than ’96, my technique is a lot better and mentally I think I’m unstoppable. Myself, I always said if I do what I’m supposed to do, run how I’m supposed to, I’ll win.”
True enough. Greene became the first man in history to sweep the 100 and 200 at the World Championships last summer. And he ran a 9.79 to shatter the outdoor 100 record last year, after setting the indoor 60 record in ’98.
The way he trains at HSI — coach John Smith’s Handling Speed Intelligently — he can hope for even more when the outdoor season starts. The conventional thinking in 100-meter races had sprinters hitting their top speed at 30 meters, holding it to 50 or 60 meters, and decelerating the rest of the way. But Smith’s HSI runners — Greene, Drummond and Boldon — delay their peak to 60 meters, and thus minimize their deceleration at the end.
Of course, that takes a certain amount of courage in a short indoor race like last night’s 60; but Greene’s nerves were up to the task. In his first race of the indoor season, he kept his composure, and ran well enough to break his own meet record.
“I’m proud of how I competed today. I needed to stick to my racing plan, and I did it. This is my first race, and it was a nice run. I wish I could’ve run another race before I came here. This track is fast; good things are gonna happen on this track,” said Greene, who said he felt for his ailing HSI teammate, who apparently considered scratching from the race altogether.
“I had a terrible pain in the front of my head for three days. I tried not to let [anyone] down; I do this for the people. They come to see me perform,” Drummond said. “I thought about not running this one; I was nauseous and the pain was intense. I took some pain medicine and it made it go away; but while I was warming up, the blood got warmer and it came back. But there ain’t no stepping back once you step in the ring.”
