When Richard Kilty became 60m world indoor champion clocking 6.49, Colin Jackson imparted some athletic wisdom: most athletes that run under 6.50 run under 10 seconds for the 100m outdoors.
He’s not wrong. 71% of the athletes that have run under 6.50 seconds have run a sub-10 second 100m. That’s 29/41 athletes. Here’s how that 71% plays out. This chart show those who ran both a sub-6.50 and sub-10 and those who have only ran sub-6.50 and not sub-10.
Have gone both sub-6.50 and sub-10
But the statement is not entirely right. Isolate those athletes who have just about managed it, the 6.49ers. Of these athletes, only 33% have run sub-10 (4/12).
If we really need to hammer home the point… Here’s another chart that plots how many athletes have gone sub-10, as a percentage, for each indoor 60m time.
60m PB and % that have gone sub-10
Saying that a sub-6.48 is likely to lead to a sub-10 performance would be more precise. It might not quite have the same ring to it, but it does have the added benefit of being more accurate.