In his first international competition, Surinam’s Issam Asinga broke the world U20 100m record by clocking 9.89* (0.8m/s) on the first day of competition at the 53rd South American Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday (28).

In what could arguably be one of the finest performances ever achieved at the the oldest area championships, Asinga improved the world U20 record of 9.91 set by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo at the World U20 Championships in Cali last year. With his time, 18-year-old Asinga also broke the senior South American record, beating the 10.00 mark set by Brazil’s legendary Robson da Silva in 1988.

Racing on the National Olympic Centre track (at 754m above sea level) at 2:14pm local time, Asinga won his semifinal in 10.03 (-0.6m/s) to better the 24-year-old championship record of 10.06 set by Brazil’s Andre Domingos da Silva. The final started at 3:38pm, when the temperature was 29°C with 40% humidity.

Asinga, running in lane 5, was dominant from the start. Brazilian Erik Cardoso also started well, but the second part of Asinga’s race was too much for the local sprinter. Despite relaxing in the final stages, Asinga stopped the clock in 9.89, leading the top three all under 10 seconds and inside the previous area record.