Matthew Boling breaks the 100 meter-dash high school record

Matthew Boling, dubbed White Lightning, first made headlines when he ran a 9.98 second 100 meter. However, this time wasn't official and was later disqualified from the history books because of the tailwind of 4.2 meters per second that the sprinters were running with. The legal wind limit is 2 meters. However, Boling proved skeptics wrong when he ran a 10.13 second 100 meter-dash on Saturday which broke the 100 meter dash high school record. He is currently a senior and will be attending the University of Georgia next year.

Image result for what record did white lightning makeI think it is incredible that he was able to break the high school record for a second time after his first time was disqualified. I honestly think that it is unfair to disqualify his first time from the records if they allowed for the tailwinds during the race. He couldn't control the weather on the day he was racing. The fact that he was able to still break the record with a legal wind shows that he got the time fairly. He must have been under an extreme amount of pressure to perform as he had when his time was disqualified, especially with all of the publicity that he had gotten from breaking the record.

Boling has gotten a lot of publicity from breaking the record the first time, and I'm sure that since he was able to break the record a second time without the help of tailwinds, he has gained more of a following.

Comments

  1. Ben YeargainMay 20, 2019 at 4:42 PM

    This is truly amazing that a high schooler is able to run these type of times. What is more impressive is that he is not only a 100 meter runner but he also runs the 400 and is an amazing long jumper. The publicity surrounding this athlete has been huge. All over social media, different sport pages have been posting his races. Last night I even saw him on the news. He has also gained many social media followers on Instagram. This just shows how much social media connects us to incredible achievements that happen in sports.

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  2. Aidan FongMay 21, 2019 at 12:46 AM

    I would say that while the tailwind shouldn't affect his placement in the race as everyone had that advantage, it should absolutely be disqualifying towards a world record. It would hardly be fair if someone got a world record for a 100 meter swim in a river going downstream, even if that's "just where the swim meet happened to be held." No one was doubting he was fast, they just said his world record shouldn't count because he had an unfair advantage and his run didn't fit the criteria. He got his previous time fairly, but it was only fair because he had the same advantage everyone else did, where for the world record he had an advantage over everyone else. Besides, if the race was unfair that was a mistake. Its a bit telling of how people think nowadays that when an something bad happens we just assume that should be the standard. If I came off as rude in this comment I apologize, because its really late and I'm exhausted.

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