Leroy BURRELL

Although Leroy Burrell spent a large part of his sprinting career in the shadow of his Santa Monica Track Club (SMTC) teammate Carl Lewis, he nonetheless made his own significant contribution to the sport, which included a number of individual and relay world records. Leroy's first world record came on 23 August 1989, when a SMTC foursome, including himself and Lewis, reduced the 4 x 200m relay world record to 1min 19.38sec.

The following year, Burrell was clearly the dominant force in the 100m, winning 19 of his 22 races at that distance, and recording significant victories over Lewis at the Goodwill Games in Seattle, and at the Grand Prix final in Athens. Leroy got his 1991 season off to a great start when he set a new world indoor record of 6.48sec at Madrid on 13 February, but his greatest achievement occurred at the US national championships in New York on 14 June 1991, when he won the 100m in 9.90sec, not only beating Carl Lewis, but also breaking Carl's world record.

This was a prelude to a sensational rematch between the two SMTC teammates in the final of the 100m at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo on 25 August, where Burrell (see photo above, lane 3) ran 9.88sec to break his world record, but finished second to Lewis (lane 5), who set a new world record of 9.86sec. Prior to the World Championships, on 3 August, Burrell and Lewis had been part of a SMTC quartet that equalled the world record of 37.79sec for the 4 x 100m relay. Four days later, the two of them were members of a USA team which further reduced the record to 37.67sec at Zurich. Finally, at Tokyo, with Burrell running the second leg, and Lewis the anchor, the USA team won the gold medal, further reducing the world record to 37.50sec. (Ron Casey)

Leroy Burrell had the best season of his career in 1991, first breaking the 100m world record of Santa Monica Track Club (SMTC) teammate Carl Lewis, and then subsequently losing the record to Lewis, when Leroy finished a close second behind him at the World Championships in Tokyo. Burrell was not in the same form during 1992, although he was still one of the world's top sprinters. On 25 April, a SMTC foursome that included Burrell and Lewis, set a new world record for the 4x200m relay of 1min 19.11sec. Later that year, in the 100m final at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, held on 1 August, Burrell was charged with a false start even though it was clear that he had not left his blocks. Clearly unsettled, Leroy was slowly away at the restart, and was never a factor in the race, finishing in fifth place (see photo above, lane 6).

However, Leroy got some recompense in the 4 x 100m relay final, where he ran the second leg on the USA team which won the gold medal in a new world record of 37.40sec. Burrell failed to qualify for the individual events at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, but he was an inclusion in the 4 x 100m relay team which equalled the world record of 37.40sec in the first semi-final, and went on to win the gold medal in the final the following day.

On 17 April 1994, a SMTC team, which included Burrell, broke its own 4x200m relay world record, setting a new mark of 1min 18.68sec. Later that year, at Lausanne, Burrell caused a sensation when he won the 100m in a time of 9.85sec, to reclaim the world record. However, this was his only real quality performance of the season, and the last time in his career that he bettered 10 seconds. (Ron Casey)