Usain Bolt celebrates at the Beijing Olympics.

MIAMI, Florida, CMC – British sprinter Christian Malcolm, one of the chasers in the momentous men’s 200-metres World record race at the Beijing Olympics a week ago, is backing Jamaican sensation Usain Bolt to go faster in the near future.

 

Malcolm, who finished fifth to Bolt and then admitted to not even seeing the Jamaican in the race, believes the 22-year-old can dip below 19 seconds in the 200 metres and go as fast 9.40 seconds in the 100 metres.

 

“Looking at the way Bolt runs, he can go faster. I believe he can probably run under 9.40 for the 100m and dip under 19 seconds for the 200m,” Malcolm told reporters after he returned from Beijing. “If he does that, I can’t see either being broken for the next 30 years.”

 

Bolt ran 9.69 seconds to set the 100 metres World record and a remarkable 19.30 seconds to break a long-standing mark of 19.32 seconds for the 200 metres in an outstanding outing in the Bird’s Nest.

 

He completed the feat with such ease that it raised the question of if the lanky Jamaica could be beaten.

 

“Hopefully, if we catch him on a bad day,” said an optimistic Malcolm, who like Bolt is also a former World junior 200m champion.

 

“He’s definitely a freak of nature, six-feet, five-inches with speed in his legs like he is five feet, five inches and such a long stride.

 

“I am an athletics fan as well as a competitor and what he did [in the 200m] was phenomenal, amazing. To be part of it, being in the same race was a privilege,” Malcolm added.

 

Bolt became the first Jamaican to capture an Olympic double and first since American Carl Lewis completed the feat in Los Angeles 24 years-ago.

 

CMC gs/kp/08