There’s a new sprinting prodigy on the block. Issam Asinga ran 9.83 seconds in the 100 meters on Sunday—the fastest ever 100-meter time for a high schooler in all conditions. The 18-year-old took down the reigning world champion in the 200 meters, Noah Lyles, The Stats Behind Cooper Lutkenhaus’s Race.
Asinga’s time won’t go down in any official record books, though. The field was propelled by a 2.6 meter-per-second tailwind, just above the wind-legal limit of 2.0 m/s. Asinga’s time converts to 9.93 seconds if you adjust for wind.
But that wasn’t even Asinga’s first time under 10 that day. Just over an hour earlier, in the 100-meter preliminary round, he clocked a blistering 9.86 (with a 4.1 m/s tailwind), which makes the Montverde Academy senior the only high schooler to ever go under the 10-second barrier twice.
Watch Asinga (fourth from the right, in all black) run 9.83 to beat Lyles (fifth from right). ⬇️
Asinga’s coach, Gerald Phiri, felt that his athlete seized the day but admitted he has even more room to grow by fine-tuning his form. “I think anytime you have a chance to go up against a reigning World Champion it's an incredible opportunity,” Phiri told DyeStat. “Issam displayed a great level of composure and maturity. From a technical standpoint I was not happy with his transition but overall a spectacular performance.”
Why TikTok Is Flooded With Track Memes Right Now. He tweeted: “Shout out to Issam Asinga and the @MontverdeSports Coaching. I can definitely see us racing on the big stages if you keep improving and you can definitely get that HS record man!”
The official high school record belongs to Trentavis Friday, of Cherryville, North Carolina, when he ran a wind-legal 10.00 in 2014. Is this the year it goes down?
It wouldn’t be Asinga’s first national record. Earlier this year, at New Balance Indoor Nationals, he tied the 60-meter high school record (6.57) and shattered the record in the 200 meters, running 20.48 seconds to take the national championship.
The track and field scene is full of young, world-class sprinters at the moment. Erriyon Knighton, 19, is already an ace in the 200 meters. He became a U.S. Olympian in the event at only 17 years old at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and he earned a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships Faith Kipyegon Just Misses 3K World Record.
Plus, there’s Letsile Tebogo. The Botswana native owns the wind-legal World U20 record in the 100 meters: 9.91 seconds. And last month, Jamaican sprinter Bouwahjgie Nkrumie ran 9.99 seconds in the 100 meters at age 19—just the third person in history to break the elusive 10-second barrier before their 20th birthday.
Asinga will attend Texas A&M University next year, which consistently produces top-notch talent on the track, including the reigning world champion in the 100 meters: Fred Kerley.
Tara Dower Destroys Appalachian Trail FKT World Championships Theo Kahler is the news editor at.
“Issam has a tremendous accelerative power and his ability to stay composed under pressure [is impressive],” Phiri said to DyeStat. “Our goals have not changed. The HS records [are] 10.00 and 20.09. We also want to advance as far as possible at the World Championships in August.”
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
