12-year-old Australian James Gallaugher is being hailed as the next Usain Bolt after this 4x100m New South Wales primary schools championship race, where he erased a massive lead in the final stretch.
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The video is curiously choppy, but numerous news outlets confirm this isn't a feat visual trickery. James Gallaugher is just that fast.
According to the Melbourne Herald Sun, Gallaugher ran the final leg of the 4x100 meter race in 11.72 seconds. For the sake of comparison, the fastest anchor leg ever in the 4x100m is 8.70 seconds, set by Asafa Powell during the 2008 Olympics. His coach, Scott Richardson, thinks Gallaugher is on a path to rack up gold medals one day.
When I talk about him with my wife and my family, we just say he is going to be the greatest sprinter we have ever had if he keeps improving at the rate which he is.
His personal bests in the 100 meter and 200 meter sprints are the best in his age group in any country, not just Australia. His 200 meter record of 23.76 seconds is less than four seconds off Usain Bolt's world record. Did we mention he's 12 years old?