University Stadium (Varsity Stadium), Toronto, ON, August 9, 1930
In August, the 100-metre world record was shorn of a tenth of a second, tumbling into a new bracket. Percy Williams—the Olympic champion who has been rather parsimonious with his competitive appearances of late—was busy priming his engine for the inaugural British Empire Games. He did so by scorching the Toronto track in a blistering 10.3 seconds. Not even a surface turned to pudding by the previous day’s deluge could anchor the Vancouverite's heels. The mark was finally ratified as an official world record, remaining unscathed until a certain Jesse Owens took a chisel to it in 1936.
Harry Eccles, a scribe for the Canadian Press, evidently felt the Muse's touch when describing Williams’ sprint:
His his slim legs, driven by a stout heart and muscles like steel springs, went into a rhytmic pounding, faster and faster.
The herculean effort clearly drained Williams' reservoir. “That's the hardest race I've run this year,” he remarked with his characteristic bashfulness after his record-breaking dash. “But I wouldn't want to run like that every day.”
The quarter-mile produced its own minor ruffling of feathers. Alex Wilson—a man destined for Olympic bronze in Los Angeles 1932—reeled in Verne Eville on the home straight, the latter having perhaps blazed away a touch too greedily in the opening stages. Amsterdam’s silver medallist, Jimmy Ball, was forced to settle for a distant third.
Winners (Canadian Athletics 1839–1992)
Percy Williams.