Is Kishane Thompson an inheritor of Bolt’s legacy or an imposter, Paris would prove

Since the peerless Usain Bolt retired, gold medal in the men’s 100 metres has proved to be elusive for the next crop of Jamaicans aiming to fill the big man’s running spikes. At the Tokyo Olympics and at three World Championships, even as the women scorched the tracks, no male sprinter wearing the famed yellow-black-and-green kits finished on the podium.

A shadow has hung over male sprinters ever since Bolt called it a day.

Yet weeks before the Paris Olympics, Jamaicans have started to believe again as a bright star has emerged. At the Stade de France, 22-year-old Kishane Thompson, the fastest man this year, has everything to prove; is he merely a pretender to the crown or a worthy successor?

There is a reason why he has made headlines not only in the Caribbean but also around the world. Only eight men have ever run faster than him ever. Significantly, among Jamaicans only Bolt, Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake have been quicker.

He will carry the weight of Jamaica’s expectations, as well as those in his fishing community, Mitchell Town in Clarendon, a place badly hit by Hurricane Beryl. Reports emerging from the town say residents are hiring generators to watch Kishane race if power is not fully restored when their boy steps on the tracks.

The best in the world too have taken note of Kishane’s speed. The United States’s world champion Noah Lyles, even joked ‘I hope he stays injured’ a reference to the Jamaican’s previous shin-related issues. Latest news from the Jamaican camp, however, is that Thompson is fit and raring to go.

Rivalry renewed

A new chapter in the USA versus Jamaica rivalry in the men’s 100 metres is being talked about again. Thompson caught the world’s attention at the Jamaica trials in late June. He bolted even after he crossed the finish line and kept running towards the bend on the track and through a gate exited the National Stadium in Kingston. Kishane was seeking out his coach Vincent Francis to avoid a tongue lashing. Francis shaped Asafa Powell’s career so athletes listen to what he says. Kishane had stopped the clock at 9.77 seconds despite his coach telling him to ease off after 60 metres. He could not slow down fast enough.

“I saw myself in front so at one point I was trying to slow down, but I could not slow down enough. So I just wanted to go right to him (coach) and say ‘I did what you said, but this is the result. Please don’t kill me’,” Kishane said about his dash to the warm-up area.

His mother Grace Allen, a high jumper in her day, hugged Kishane even before the coach could react. “That’s my boy. Congrats Kishane, I love you, you have done well,” an emotional Grace said.

An extended and heart-warming embrace followed, captured by local television channels wanting to catch every moment of the country’s latest 100 metre sprint sensation. Kishane can restore Jamaica’s status in men’s sprinting is what the greats feel.

The now-retired Powell, with a record 97 sub-10 times under his belt, says Kishane is the next the sprinter Jamaica have been waiting for. “Jamaica has been asking for an answer since we retired, and we now have it. Kishane will run faster than 9.77 this year,” Powell was quoted as saying by Sportsmax.tv after Kishane topped the trials.

Blake was also effusive with his praise. “I think great things are in store for Kishane. That was a big run. I am happy for him and I think he can go all the way and bring Jamaica the gold,” Blake said.

Kishane too believes he has extra gear. “I am not sure how fast I can go but the time did not surprise me today,” Kishane told reporters at the end of the trials. Track and field pundits, like Ato Boldon, multiple Olympic medal winner from Trinidad and Tobago and an analyst for NBC, thinks Kishane will snap at the heels of Lyles if not beat him to gold in less than a week’s time.

“Anybody who is ignoring Kishane as a threat, ignore them because they don’t know what they are talking about… there is no way you can ignore that guy,” Boldon said on Letsrun.com podcast.

Lyles has the medals in his cabinet back home – an Olympic bronze in the 100m and three golds at last year’s World Championships; in the sprints and 4x100m relay. He also has something Kishane will not at this Olympics – experience of nailing rounds before the final.

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Kishane will have to watch out for butterflies in his stomach. The first time Kishane will run heats, semis and final at a major competition is at the Olympics. Lyles is a proven champion and gunning for his first Olympic gold will give the 27-year-old showman the added motivation to silence critics and upstarts like Kishane.

Lyles (9.81 this year) will also have to watch out for Oblique Seville (9.81), the fourth fastest man of 2024, also a Jamaican, and the unpredictable and trailblazing Kenyan star Ferdinand Omanlaya (9.79).

Kishane is eyeing a podium place in Paris, he also has tough acts to follow in Bolt, Blake and Powell. “Those men were like beasts, they ran fast, they knew they were fast and they could control their speed with the snap of their fingers. They could slow down from 50 metres and run really high 9.8s and 9.9s,” Kishane said.

Now it’s his turn to show the world that Jamaican men are still the fastest in the world.

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