Watch: This 12-year-old girl is being called the next Usain Bolt
Less than a year after Usain Bolt ran his last Olympic race, a new Jamaican sprinter appears poised to take over as track and field’s next phenomenon.
Brianna Lyston is just 12 years old, but she’s already drawing comparisons to Bolt thanks to her stunning 200m victory at the Boys and Girls Championship in Kinston (the very same meet where Bolt first burst on to the scene in 2003).
Lyston, running largely by herself, finished the race in a wind-aided 23.47 seconds. (while wearing a flower crown). Lyson’s win was so Ledecky-like that none of her fellow competitors were even on the screen when she crossed the finish line.
Lyston followed that up with a 23.72 second showing in the final, smashing an age group record.
Another RECORD has fallen! Brianna Lyston clocks 23.72 to WIN GOLD in Class 4 Girls 200M FINAL. #Champs2017 ???????? pic.twitter.com/bcasepnraP
— Team Jamaica (@JamaicaOlympics) April 1, 2017
Lyston has a bit to go before she catches Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 21.34 seconds, but still, she’s 12.