Sprint Legend Armin Hary and Superstar Tyson Gay at Zurich Main Station

Two days prior to the Samsung Diamond League Meeting of Zurich, the German sprint legend Armin Hary (73) and the current 100m world leader Tyson Gay (28) met on the occasion of the opening of a commemorative exhibition on the history of sprint at RailCity/Zurich Main Station. 

Hary is the legendary sprinter who became the first man to run 100m in 10.0 at Letzigrund Stadium in 1960, and who then went on to win two Olympic gold medals in Rome later in the year. Gay, on his part, has been dominating the 2010 season in the 100m, defeating Jamaica’s world record holder and Olympic champion Usain Bolt in Stockholm recently, and clocking a world leading time of 9.78 in London last Saturday. 

The two guests visited the exhibition located in the main hall of Zurich’s main railway station, examining the cinder and the synthetic tracks laid out for the public, and of course testing their reaction times at the Omega exhibition stand.

Gay’s result was 0.231 seconds, Hary – who is 45 years his senior – false started. “That was on purpose,” the German smiled. The apparent false start in his first Zurich race in 1960, however, had certainly not been deliberate, and it remains controversial to this day. 14 122 spectators were cheering when the 10.0 result was announced. The judges registered hand-timed results of 9.9, 9.95, and 10.0 – which translated into an official result of 10.0.

However, the judges ruled that the 23-year-old athlete had beat the gun and refused to sign the required record report. The starter in charge (a replacement for the injured chief judge Albert Kern) declared that, due to the excitement at the stadium, he had forgotten to indicate the false start. The race was repeated 35 minutes later. Kern put aside his crutches and acted as starter. With only two other athletes in the race, and a tail wind of 0.9 m/sec, Hary clocked 10.0, 10.0, and 10.1 – an indisputable world record.

 Tyson Gay, who has never run on a cinder track was impressed by the account of historical race: “I would not have been able to run two races at world record speed within such a short period of time. After my races, by body and mind relax.” Hary explained his being able to stay focused: “I had worked so much to be the fastest man in the world. Somehow, I thought Zurich was my last chance to run 10.0.” With hindsight, Hary would not repeat such a race: “Had I clocked 10.1 the second time around, everyone would have assumed that I was simply not able to run 10.0.”

One year after his fellow countryman Martin Lauer had set two new world records in the 110m h and the 200m h at Letzigrund Stadium, Hary’s triumph helped cement the fame of Zurich’s magic track. The British had dubbed Hary “the white lightening”, as his quick starts regularly managed to startle the judges. In winter 1961, a car accident put an end to Armin Hary’s brief athletics career.