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Olympics Blog

Fastest men in red, white and blue

By Helene Elliott
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EUGENE, Ore. -- The six sub-10-second sprinters from Saturday’s quarterfinals are evenly split in today’s semifinals.

In Heat 1, Rodney Martin (9.95), Tyson Gay (American record 9.77) and Ivory Williams are in Lanes 3-4-5, respectively.

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Heat 2 has two newly minted record holders: in Lane 3 is Jeff Demps of Lake County, Fla., whose 10.01 set an American high-school record as well as American and world junior records. He’s headed to the University of Florida to run track and play football. In Lane 4 is Travis Padgett of Clemson, pictured at right, whose 9.89 set a collegiate record.

In Lanes 5 and 6 are Darvis Patton (9.89) and Mark Jelks (9.99)

Given the fast times so far and the continuation of the scorching-hot weather that sprinters love, there could be more records in store, if not in the semifinals then in the final. That’s scheduled to be run at 4:49 p.m.

--Helene Elliott

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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