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Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is an Americanathlete who twice set the world record for the 100 metre sprint, setting a time of 9.90 seconds in June 1991. This was then broken by Carl Lewis within a month. Burell set the record for a second time when he ran 9.85 seconds in 1994, a record that stood until 1996.
Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. 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 studied at the University of Houston, where he was a successful participant in their track program.
Burrell was plagued by injuries and bad luck throughout his career, particularly around major championships. He won the silver in the 100 metres behind Lewis at the 1991 World Championships, and at the 1992 Summer Olympics was false-started in the 100 metre final and, when the race finally restarted, his reaction off the line was slow. He did though manage to win a relay gold as part of the US team at Barcelona.
Since his retirement in 1998, Burrell has replaced his old college mentor, Tom Tellez, as coach of the University's track team.
He married Michelle Finn, also a sprinter, in 1994, and they have two sons.
Notes
Justin Gatlin (USA) holds the current World record for the 100 metres with 9.76 seconds.
