Coleman breaks 60m indoor world record

LOS ANGELES: Rising US star Christian Coleman set a new world indoor record for the 60m on Sunday, blasting to victory in 6.34sec at the US championships in Albuquerque.

The 21-year-old exploded out of the blocks with a 0.149 reaction time to cross ahead of Ronnie Baker, who was second in 6.40.Coleman’s time shaved 0.05sec off the existing world indoor record set by Maurice Greene in Madrid in 1998.

It comes after a roller coaster start to the season for Coleman, the world 100m silver medallist.The American youngster was initially believed to have broken Greene’s 60m record at a meeting in Clemson, South Carolina on January 19, where he clocked 6.37sec. However that time was not ratified because the meeting at which took place was not using electronic starting blocks.

Coleman set prodigious times as a college athlete and has been hailed as a potential Olympic champion. He ran the fastest 100 meters time of 2017 with 9.82sec but in the world final in London he was beaten by Justin Gatlin as Usain Bolt finished third.