A year ago, Andre Cason was in a cast and brooding about missing the Olympic Games.
A controversial coaching change and a lecture from grandma later, he's America's fastest human."Pound for pound, I'm the best sprinter in the world," the 5-foot-7 runner said Thursday after his victory against bigger, more experienced competitors at 100 meters in the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Cason had given notice of his speed a day earlier when he had two wind-aided 9.79-second efforts in the preliminaries. Only Carl Lewis' wind-aided 9.78 five years ago was faster.
Cason wasn't quite as fast Thursday, winning in a wind-enhanced 9.85 seconds, the same time as runner-up Dennis Mitchell. Lewis, the world record holder, was third in 9.90. The top three finishers qualify for the world championships.
In the women's 100, a busy Gail Devers, the Olympic gold medalist in the event, won in a wind-aided 10.82 and finished first in the preliminary heat and semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles.
At last year's Olympic Trials, Cason suffered a severe calf muscle tear. At first, the injury was diagnosed as a severed Achilles' tendon and he was placed in a cast, unnecessarily, for 31/2 weeks.
He wondered about his athletic future, and could hardly bare to watch the Olympic 100-meter finals on television. He said he only watched the final 20 meters.
"I didn't say anything. I looked at my dad and he looked at me, then I walked out of the room," Cason said.
It took a talk by his grandmother to help him realize he could come back.
"She had had a heart attack and then a stroke three weeks later," he said. "She said, `If I can come back from this, you can can come back, too."
Along the way, he changed coaches, splitting with John Smith and hooking up with Loren Seagrave, who has been suspended by USA Track and Field for failure to properly account for a $10,000 development grant in 1988.
Cason credits Seagrave for much of his success and says the suspension will be no problem.