What happened to ‘next Usain Bolt’ who posted record-breaking time aged 12

Usain Bolt is undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes to have walked the earth. Not only does the 38-year-old have eight Olympic gold medals to his name for his native Jamaica, but he also holds the world record for the 100 and 200-metre sprints, as well as the best time for a 4 x 100m relay alongside Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter.
In May 2008, Bolt caught the attention of athletics fans worldwide by setting a new 100m world record time at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, clocking a total time of 9.72s. His best was yet to come, however, achieving superstar status when he shattered his own record at the Summer Olympics in Beijing just months later – running an incredible time of 9.69s.
While many believed that this record would stand tall for an era, Bolt outdid himself at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, smashing his record time with a run of 9.58 seconds – a record that has now stood tall for 15 years with no one coming close to challenging it.
However, in April 2017, it was thought that the world had found the person to give Bolt a run for his money on the world stage – in the form of at the time 12-year-old Jamaican schoolgirl, Brianna Lyston. That’s because the sprinter smashed the 200m under-13 record at the Boys and Girls Championships with a time of 23.72.
To put the feat into context, that’s incredibly close to Florence Griffith-Joyner’s senior-level record of 21.34 from the 1988 Olympics and is just shy of Bolt’s 19.19 200m record. Meanwhile, the young talent achieved a lightning-quick time of 11.86 seconds in the 100-metre final.
But did Lyston ever go on to achieve great things in the world of athletics? And what is she up to in 2024? Here, Express US breaks down everything you need to know…
It’s been seven years since Lyston caught the attention of the world through her performance’s similarities to elite-tier runners like Bolt. While there is very little out there in terms of her youth performances outside of her record-breaking feat in 2017, she continued to keep up her good form at the CARIFTA U17 Games in George Town.
Lyston achieved gold in the 4x100m relay alongside Crystal Shaw, Glacian Loutin and Kay-Lagay Clarke with a time of 45.63, while she also achieved silver in the 200m sprint with a time of 23.53 – fractionally missing out on a victory to Trinidad and Tobago’s Shaniqua Bascombe who crossed the finish line at 23.36.
The speedy sprinter also reaped the seeds of success at the U20 CARIFTA Games in Kingston, achieving gold in the 4x100m relay and the 200m events, topping her time at the U17 event by crossing the line at 23.16. Lyston also achieved victory at the World U20 Championships the very same year, bagging a gold medal in the 200m sprint with a time of 22.65.
Fast forward to 2024 and Lyston has become Jamaica’s fastest woman this year – running a personal best in the 100m of the SEC Championship in Gainsville, Florida with a blistering time of just 10.91. At the same tournament, she also ran a personal best 200m time of 22.31.
And while many fans would have expected her to represent her country at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer, the youngster ultimately wrapped her season up early. After securing a runner-up spot at the NCAA championships, Lyston took to Instagram in June to write: “Thank you 2024, breezy signing out.”
Ultimately, Tia Clayton, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shashalee Forbes ended up representing Jamaica at the Olympics this summer. Clayton was the only athlete from the team to make it to the final, where she finished in seventh place with a time of 10.89.
St Lucia’s Julien Alfred won gold during the event, with a speedy run of 10.72 seconds. It will be interesting to see how Lyston fares over the next couple of years, and whether she will put her name in the hat for the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.