Montverde Graduate Issam Asinga Sets New World U20 Record For 100 Meters
Montverde Graduate Issam Asinga Sets New World U20 Record For 100 Meters
The 18-year-old ran a wind-legal 9.89 seconds at the South American Outdoor Championships to win the 100m final
Issam Asinga, the history-making Montverde Academy graduate and national high school record-holder for 200 meters, finally broke through with a legendary sub-10 second 100 meter mark on Friday, winning the 100m final at the South American Outdoor Championships for Suriname in a stunning new World U20 record time of 9.89 (+0.8) seconds.
"I'm elated for Issam," Montverde head coach Gerald Phiri relayed to MileSplit. "We have worked tirelessly these past few months and I have demanded a lot from him. We knew it was coming, but it's amazing to see it finally come together with a legal wind.
"He is more than deserving of what he has achieved. The job is not done. Budapest has always been the goal and I believe Issam has clearly stated his intentions today. We need to clean up a few things in his transition to max velocity, but we're in a good place and fully locked in."
The performance, now surpassing the former mark of 9.91 seconds last achieved by Letsile Tebogo in 2022 at the World U20 Championships, also delivered Asinga, 18, another gift: A new high school national record, shattering the mark of 10.00 seconds that had stood since 2014 and of which was last achieved by Trentavis Friday.
Asinga's effort, while his fifth sub-10 second time of the season for 100m, was his first with a legal meters-per-second wind.
A dual citizen for the United States, Suriname and Zambia through his parents Tommy Asinga and Ngozi Mwanamwambwa, Asinga has chosen to represent Suriname at the World Championships in Budapest this August.
He is currently is a signee of Texas A&M University.
Asinga had previously run wind-assisted marks of 9.83w, 9.89w, 9.83w and 9.86w over his outdoor season.
On Friday, he delivered the record-breaking time after claiming a preliminary run of 10.03 seconds, which also surpassed his former wind-legal best of 10.05 seconds. It pushed him through to the finals, which also saw Brazil's Erik Felipe Barbosa Cardoso author a runner-up finish in 9.97 seconds. Colombian sprinter Ronal Longa Mosquera was third in 9.99.
Asinga, our defending MileSplit50 Athlete of the Year for both the outdoor and indoor seasons, finished his outdoor season with a New Balance Nationals Outdoor title in 10.05 seconds.
Previously, he had beaten Noah Lyles in a wind-assisted 100 meter race at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational on April 22.
Beyond the 100m, Asinga also claimed a 200m high school national record with a time of 19.97 seconds from the Corky/Crofoot Shootout in April. He became the first high school athlete in history to break 20 seconds for the distance -- note: Erriyon Knighton was not considered a high school athlete when he broke 20 seconds in 2021.
He will leave the 2023 season with the single-greatest sprint season of all-time.
Related Links:
Issam Asinga named MileSplit's Athlete of the Year
Asinga breaks outdoor 200m national record
Asinga smashes 200m record at New Balance Nationals Indoor