Andre De Grasse has gusted to the equal third quickest time ever for the 100m sprint with a sharp 9.69 seconds victory in Stockholm early Monday morning.
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The Canadian won the Diamond League meet in Sweden in the blistering time but he was aided by an illegal +4.8 tailwind - anything +2 and above is deemed illegal - and so while he gets the victory, the time will not be listed in the record books.
Regardless of the wind, the run is a threatening reminder to world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt ahead of the world championships in London in August in what will be the Jamaican champion's farewell to the sport's major competitions.
Usain Bolt holds the three quickest ever times - 9.58s, 9.63s and 9.69s. Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake have both also run a legal 9.69s 100m.
"It was a shock to me when I saw the time on the board," De Grasse said on the IAAF website. "I just wanted to run sub-10 and I didn't feel in the shape to run that fast.
"I'm really happy about it, it's a good start to the season. I'm just looking forward to running that fast legally.
"... [When] we went into the blocks and started racing, I didn't really feel the wind," said the three-time Olympic medallist. "That's the fastest I've ever run, it's going to be a shock to the body. [Monday] is going to hurt a little bit, but I'm just looking forward to the next race and see what I can do legally."
The win was the third successive victory for the 22-year-old De Grasse on the European tour after he also won the 100m in Oslo and the 200m in Rome earlier in the month. De Grasse won Olympic bronze in the 100m in Rio and silver in the 200m.
