Usain Bolt ran his first-ever 800m race today and lost. The retired sprinter made his half-mile debut as part of a CarMax deal at the University of the West Indies, Mona in St. Andrew. While this was not much of a “race” the company stated a customer could get an instant online offer quicker than Bolt would be able to finish two laps around the track. So let’s watch Bolt run in an Olympic year.
To the surprise of…not one person, the customer came out victorious by just three seconds as the GOAT of Track and Field came to an anti-climactic finish. The first 400m was less than stellar with Bolt heading into the second lap after 74 seconds.
There wasn’t really an official time in the video of the race, but Bolt was able to finish the race in roughly two minutes and forty seconds. That is a 5:20 pace for a full mile. The chance to see Bolt run anything over 200m is rare. 400m runs were usually reserved for non-championship seasons or as tune-ups and training, rather than trying to be the best in the event.
This was clearly just a fun thing as part of an advertisement and not a real attempt at winning any sort of race. Still, it is interesting to see just how different each event in Track can be. With Bolt being able to run a 19.19 200m (the World Record) is very different than being able to run a half-mile where the WR is 1:40.91, a full minute faster than what Bolt was able to accomplish, albeit as a retired athlete in an advertisement.
For Bolt, retirement isn’t too bad it seems. Having to run an occasional couple of laps to make an easy bag, star in Gatorade commercials, and live his best life isn’t so bad. Will he ever run a 100 or 200 again? It would be great to see it sometime in the future.
