Brianna Lyston ran a new 12-year-old age group world record in the 200m dash on Saturday at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. The 12-year-old dropped a 23.72 to win her heat of the semifinals.
She clocked other impressive 200m marks this past weekend as well. In the prelims, she ran 24.00 flat and in the semis she ran a wind-aided 23.46 (+2.2).
Lyston's 23.72 breaks Tia Jones' (GA) record set back on July 25, 2013. Her time would currently rank fifth among American high schoolers. The mark is only 1.03 seconds of Candace Hill's World Youth record time of 22.43 which she set in 2015 at the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia. Remember Lyston only 12-years-old, Hill set the record when she was 16. At age 13 Hill's best wind-legal time in our database is 24.88, which would be 1.16 seconds off Lyston's time at 12-years-old.
Could she be the next Usain Bolt? She's already setting records earlier than Bolt did. Bolt's first record came at age 15, when he ran 20.58. Bolt now holds every world age group 200m record from 15-18 (not to mention the world records in both the 100m and 200m). It's not far-fetched we could see the same from this young St. Jago stud, as she's only just be getting started. Watch the race above as she completely dominates the competition.
She can blaze a pretty quick 100m dash as well, with a best of 11.68. That time is also a 100m world age group record, beating out Tamari Davis' record of 11.77, which was set back on April 4, 2015.