Tribute to Morne Nagel.

[white lightning]

We have talked alot about Matt Shirvington(Shirvo)and Nicolas Macrozonaris who both had personal bests of 10.03 seconds in the 100 meters!

I want to give Morne Nagel his due. He may not have ran as fast over 100 meters as they did(10.13) but he is the fastest white sprinter ever over 60 meters. He was just about unbeatable back in 2002. Here is an article about him from back in the day.


http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=4&art_id=ct20020407225422217M320190&set_id=6Edited by: white lightning

 

[white lightning]

The man is just about 33 years of age now. He is a physical education teacher but he still runs a couple of meets here and there. This is a very proud man who still runs as hard as he can and he is one that makes us all proud. Keep it up Morne. We support you hear at Castefootball even if your best days are probably behind you. It is still a pleasure to see you run! Here is a video from a race just 2 weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZP2DHo-h6kEdited by: white lightning

 

[white lightning]

I wish I could find some videos of him from back in the early to mid 2000's. He was like a bullet coming out of the blocks. Here is one more video I found.

http://mornenagel.com/Edited by: white lightning

 

[StarWars]

What a perfect drive phase. I can only imagine how fast his start must have been when he ran 6.48 multiple times. His top speed really isn't that good but he was also an awesome 200 meter runner, suggesting he had good speed endurance. 6.75 at 33 to begin your season ain't half bad. He can break 6.7 easily this year if he wants to. What I really hope happens is that Morne, Angel Rodriguez, Tobias Unger, Christian Blum, Alexander Kosenkow, Fabio Cerutti, Abrantes, Collio, Di Gregorio, and several other sprinters around 6.6 go to the World Indoor Championships. I know Lemaitre and Pickering probably will not, but some of the other guys I mentioned above definitely have a shot at making the final. David Gillick will win the 400 if he decides to go. I wonder if he will considering the European Championships are coming up this summer though. Interesting.

 

[white lightning]

Here is a long video from back in 2002 when Nagel was in his prime. He is still the fastest white sprinter ever to run the 60 meters. He was incredible indoors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXpi5T-JlB4

 

[freddie]

Other than Myles-Mills's 7,000 footaltitude run Nagle is also the (equal) fastest African over 60m.

 

[white lightning]

I just watched the video with Nagel again. One of the biggest things I keep noticing is how natural most white sprinters look compared to most black sprinters and don't tell me it's because whites cannot pack on muscle. Just go to a bodybuilding, weight lifting, or strong man contest. Nagel like Macrozonaris was very skinny yet he could run very fast. Nagel reminds me of Casey Combest in how explosive he was out of the blocks.

He ran a 6.48 in the 60 meters! That is flat out flying. Very few guys in the world could do that. He is probably the only one to do it while looking like a local paperboy. The guy is toned but very skinny. It's just amazing how fast he could run. I know his parents were athletes so it was in his genes. I just will always wonder if he could have had a stronger support system, how fast he could have run? South Africa has never been known for their athletics.

So for anyone that says whites cannot sprint, show them clips of guys like Nagel, Macro and Lemaitre. Now just imagine if these guys were not so skinny. This proves with out a doubt how fast whites can be. At least Lemaitre broke the barrier that many others should have. It will be very interesting to see how he progresses.

I will say one last thing on Nagel. We may no see anyone run faster than him in the 60 for a long time. He was only .09 off the world record time indoors over 60 meters. Simply amazing!Edited by: white lightning