QuickCheck: Is China's current 100m sprint champ the only Asian who has broken the 10-second barrier?

THE fastest man in Asia currently is China's Su Bingtian, whose imposing physique makes him easily recognisable. The 33-year-old, who is pretty stout for a sprinter, is 172cm tall and holds the Asian 100m record with a superb time of 9.83s recorded at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But is the man known for his thunderous thighs the first Asian athlete to break the sub-10-second barrier?

VERDICT:

FALSE

Bingtian's 9.83s is highly respectable and could have even won him the Gold in the 2004 Athens Olympic (Justin Gaitlin of the United States won with a time of 9.84s), but he was not the first Asian to dip below 10 seconds.

According to records shown by World Athletics, Qatar's Femi Ogunode, a Nigerian-born athlete who has been residing in Doha since 2009, was the first Asian to achieve the feat when he clocked 9.93s in the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.

However, Bingtian holds the feat of being the first East Asian-born athlete to run a sub-10 second race when he finished third in the Diamond League, clocking 9.99 seconds in the race won by American Tyson Gay with a 9.88s time.

Other Asian 100m sprinters who have dipped below 10 seconds are Japan's Yoshihide Kiryu, the second East Asian sprinter to dip below 10 seconds with a time of 9.98s at the Fukuroi University Championships in Japan in 2017.

In 2018, Bingtian's compatriot Xie Zhenye recorded a time of 9.94s in the Resisprint International, France and in the same year, Omani sprinter Barakat Al-Harthi clocked 9.97s in the Amman West Asian Championships in Jordan.

The following year, Japan's Abdul Hakim Sani Brown sprinted to a time of 9.99s in the SEC Championships in the United States as did his countryman Yuki Koike, who clocked 9.98s at the Muller Anniversary Games in England.

Two years later, another Japanese sprinter, Ryota Yamagata, clocked 9.95s at the Fuse Sprint Championship in Japan. For the record, Japan has the most sub-10 sprinters in Asia, with four of them clocking such times.

Sri Lanka's Yusup Abeykoon became the first South Asian to break the sub-10 barrier notching a time of 9.96s at the Resisprint International in July last year.

What about the South-East Asians? So far, none have been able to do that, but two phenoms, including one Malaysian, may have what it takes.

Mohd Azeem Fahmi, 19, has been setting the track ablaze since joining Auburn University last month. He rewrote his indoor 60m national record by clocking 6.62s to finish fifth in the final of the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson University in South Carolina on Feb 11.

Two weeks earlier, he clocked 6.63s in the first round of the same event in the Texas Tech Open and Multis at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas.

Azeem also holds the 100m national record, having run a superb 10.09 in the Under-20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, last year.

With such form, many believe he can break the 10-second mark next year.

Besides Azeem, Puripol Boonson from Thailand may also achieve the feat.

He also holds the Thai record with a similar time as Azeem of 10.09s, recorded in the Under-20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, last year.