TOKYO, Japan, June 16 – Japanese teen sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu has lost his joint junior world record for the 100 metres after officials ruled the equipment used for measuring wind speed was not up to international standards, a report has said.
The 17-year-old clocked 10.01-seconds at a meet in Hiroshima on April 29, sparking hopes in Japan he could become the first native Asian to dip under the 10-second mark.
But the athletics world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has informed the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) that the time was not valid, Kyodo news reported late Friday.
Kiryu had run with a tail wind measured at 0.9 meters per second, but the measuring equipment was not up to current international standards, which call for an ultrasonic wind gauge, Kyodo said.
The time, which makes him the ninth fastest 100m sprinter of the year, will continue to be listed in the IAAF rankings, Kyodo said.
The JAAF has now requested that future meets featuring Kiryu are measured using the proper wind gauges, in anticipation he could break the 10-second barrier.
Kiryu’s time of 10.01 was the same as that clocked by Trinidad and Tobago’s Darrel Brown in 2003 when he was 18.
