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Bolt was involved in a road accident that ruled him out for two months the year he broke the world records in the 100 and 200m.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has recently revealed that he believes he could have set even more astonishing 100m and 200m records in Berlin in 2009 if he had not suffered an unfortunate road accident that led to a two-month injury layoff.
Bolt lost control of his BMW M3, a gift from his sponsors at Puma following his stellar performances at the Beijing Olympics, while speeding on a rain-slicked highway west of Kingston.
The car, which was Bolt's favorite, ended up in a ditch. Despite the severity of the accident, the then-22-year-old sustained only minor injuries, primarily scratches from thorn bushes.
However, a thorn pricked the soft part of his left foot when he stepped out of the overturned vehicle, causing him to miss several preparatory races for the World Championships in Berlin.
Reflecting on the incident, Bolt shared on the Obi One podcast how the accident impacted his training and performance.
“I think the 100 meters is the one. When I broke the records, I had suffered an accident that ruled me out for two months,” Bolt stated. He explained that during his recovery, he could only train on straight tracks due to the pain caused by running curves.
“Even when training, I only had to do it on the straight because anytime I ran the corner, it was painful. So I had to do straights for a month after I came back. I wasn’t running the curves because it was painful.”
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Bolt's determination saw him pushing through the pain eventually. “One day I decided, ‘Coach, we need to start running the curves.’ I had to make my mind up and go through the pain and that is when I decided ‘let's go’,” he recounted.
He believes that if he had stayed fit and had no issues that season, he might have achieved even more remarkable times.
Bolt set the world records of 9.58 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, records that still stand today.
“If I had continued and had no issues, I genuinely wanted to run under 19 seconds. If I had continued that season unscratched, I won’t say I would have gotten it but it would have been close,” he speculated.
Recalling his performance at the Olympics, Bolt noted, “If you watch the Olympics, after the 4x100m, I ran through the line at the end because I was in shape.
“ At the World Championships, I stopped halfway through because I was dead. I missed out on like two months of training. If I was sharper, it would have been different.”
“I think it would have been 9.4-something. It would have been different because I would have been sharper and with a lot of races under my belt,” Bolt concluded, reflecting on what might have been if not for the unfortunate accident.
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