Bolt’s records blew my mind – Danny McFarlane

If one person has seen it all at the World Athletics Championship, it is former 400m hurdler Danny McFarlane.

The four-time World Championships 4x400m silver medallist has nine World Championships appearances, stretching from 1993 to 2009 and is equalled only by legendary Canadian race-walker Tim Berrett and Spain's Jesus Angel Garcia, also a race-walker

McFarlane's most memorable moment at the biennial event came at his final appearance in Berlin 2009, when he watched in awe and disbelief as Usain Bolt smashed both the 100m and 200m world records.

"There are so many great memories," McFarlane told STAR Sports. "But most people and I are going to mention Usain Bolt's world records.

"To run 9.58 seconds and then come back to run 19.19, and that's not even in the rounds. You are almost looking on and saying this is not even normal. So that is always cemented in my mind that somebody really did this."

He recalled the days when former American sprinters Michael Johnson and Maurice Green ruled the roost, and to witness Bolt outdoing athletes of that calibre was mind-boggling for McFarlane.

"I remember watching Michael Johnson and to think how great that man was...," McFarlane said. "I used to see Maurice Green and others compete back in the days and you were like, 'Wow!'

"So to see Usain make those men look like nothing, that really stays in your mind for a lifetime and you enjoy talking to your kids about that moment."

McFarlane says records were made to be broken, and although he does not see Bolt's records being erased in the immediate or near future, beating Bolt's record would signal exciting times for the sport.

"I hope they do [break Usain's records]. I like to see things move forward and people compete, and by breaking records, the sport gets more interesting and people want to support it even more.

"If they are broken, it would be phenomenal. I know Usain realises his records might go one day. But for now I do not see anyone touching those records. They might stay there for a long time."