Reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and world record holder Tobi Amusan said on Monday they were ready to run the 100m hurdles in under 12 seconds if the bars remained at their present height.
Amusan set the current world record of 12.12 seconds at last year’s World Championships.
She even managed 12.06 seconds in the final, but the time was not recognised as a new record because of tailwind.
“I’m a big believer in the Bible, nothing is impossible and 11 seconds? Most definitely,” Amusan told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s Golden Spike meet in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava.
“I do think it’s possible and I hope it happens during our time,” added Camacho-Quinn, who won gold at the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She added the world record “should be faster than what it really is”.
“You can be super fast on the 100 and you can be super fast on the 200 but sometimes that speed is too much for hurdles and it all becomes about rhythm at that point and technique.”
“It’s just about piecing it together,” added the 26-year-old Puerto Rican.
Both Camacho-Quinn and Amusan said hurdles should stay at 84 centimetres (33 inches) of height, despite an ongoing debate on raising them to give priority to technique over speed.
“I’m basically 5’9 (174 centimetres) and I still do clip a hurdle,” said Camacho-Quinn.
“I obviously don’t see the point of raising them. What do people expect from that? Because the times are going to change. You’re just going to see us jumping up the whole time,” she added.
Amusan, who is 5’1 (156 centimetres) tall, had even less sympathy, laughing the idea off.
“I feel like we have a lot of hurdlers that are really short,” said the Nigerian.
“That’s not what people will see. They just see us on TV and they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s so tall, she’s so bulky.’ I’m not bulky, I’m not tall.”
“Don’t do that, don’t raise the hurdles. Please,” Amusan said laughing.
