Leroy Burrell

Leroy Russel Burrell is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the [men's 100 metres men's 100 metres world record progression|world record progression|world record] for the 100 m sprint.

IG leroyrburrell

Early life

Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School, where he single-handedly won the state championship by winning the 100 m, 200 m, long jump, and triple jump. Suffering from poor eyesight accentuated by a childhood eye injury, he was poor at other sports, but excelled on the track from an early age. He attended the University of Houston from 1986 to 1990, where he was a nine-time NCAA All-American and set the NCAA outdoor record in the long jump.

Professional career

Burrell was plagued by injuries and bad luck throughout his career, particularly around major championships. He won gold in the 100 m ahead of Carl Lewis at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. He won the silver in the 100 m behind Lewis at the 1991 World Championships. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Burrell false-started in the 100 m final. When the race finally restarted, his reaction off the line was slow, and he finished fifth. He did manage to win a relay gold as part of the U.S. 4 × 100 m team.
On May 19, 1990, Burrell ran a wind-assisted 200 m at College Station, Texas, in a time of 19.61 seconds. The wind speed was +4.0 m per second. This was the fastest time for the 200 m for over six years until the 1996 Olympic final in Atlanta, where Michael Johnson ran 19.32 seconds.
He first set the 100 m world record in June 1991 with a time of 9.90 seconds. This was broken that September by Carl Lewis who ran 9.86 sec at the 1991 World Track and Field Championships where Burrell finished second in a new personal best time of 9.88 sec. In July 1994, Burrell set the world record for the second time when he ran 9.85 sec at Athletissima, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Since his retirement in 1998, Burrell has replaced his old college mentor, Tom Tellez, as coach of the University of Houston's track and field team. Burrell has led UH to 14 men's Conference USA titles and nine women's titles. He was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014.
In June 2022, Burrell stepped down as head coach at Houston and accepted the head coaching position for Auburn track and field.

Personal life

Burrell married Michelle Finn, also a sprinter, in 1994, and they have three sons together: Cameron who was a sprinter for the Houston Cougars and died in 2021, Joshua, and Jaden. On June 7, 2017, Cameron joined his father in the sub-10 second club. Burrell's younger sister Dawn also competed in track and field at the highest level, as a member of the 2000 US Olympic team and world indoor champion in the long jump.

Statistics

Information from IAAF profile unless otherwise noted.

World records

Includes former all-conditions world best in the 200 meters. All world records are former as of May 24, 2014.

Event	Time	Competition	Venue	Date	Notes
60 m	6.48	Madrid indoor meet	Madrid, Spain	February 13, 1991
100 m	9.90	U.S. Championships	New York, New York, U.S.	June 14, 1991	+1.8 m/s wind
100 m	9.85	Athletissima Lausanne	Lausanne, Switzerland	July 6, 1994	+1.2 m/s wind
200 m	19.61	SWC Championships	College Station, Texas, U.S.	May 19, 1990	+4.1 m/s wind,
relay	37.79	Herculis Monaco	Monaco	August 3, 1991
relay	37.67	Weltklasse Zürich	Zürich, Switzerland	August 7, 1991
relay	37.50	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	September 1, 1991	Former
relay	37.40	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	August 8, 1992	Former
relay	37.40	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	August 21, 1993	Former
relay	1:19.38	Koblenz meet	Koblenz, Germany	August 23, 1989
relay	1:19.11	Penn Relays	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.	April 23, 1992
relay	1:18.68	Mt. SAC Relays	Walnut, California, U.S.	April 17, 1994

Circuit wins