Kim Collins

Biography Collins competed in college for Texas Christian University. He competed on behalf of his country in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2016 Summer Olympics.

Collins made his debut at major championship at the 1996 Olympics, where he qualified for the second round in the 100 m. He improved quickly, and at the 2000 Summer Olympics, he became the first athlete from his nation to qualify for an Olympic final, finishing 7th in the 100 m. The next year, Collins would win St. Kitts' first World Championship medal, when he tied for the bronze medal in the 200 m.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won his first major title. After the 100 m race, which Collins won after two other favourites pulled out of the final with injuries, he failed a doping test, testing positive for the beta agonist Salbutamol. However, it was found that the banned substance was part of the asthma medication Collins had been taking for several years, but had neglected to mention to the medical commission. Collins eventually was allowed to keep his title, and got away with a warning.

Collins was featured on a set of two stamps from St Kitts issued in 2002.

The 100 m at the 2003 World Championships became the biggest triumph of his career. With Olympic and World Champion Maurice Greene eliminated in the semi-finals, the field was wide open. In a very close race, where the top four athletes finished within 0.02 seconds, Collins won and became the first world champion from Saint Kitts and Nevis.

At the 2004 Olympics, Collins again made the final of the 100, finishing 6th. At the 2005 World Championships, Collins claimed a bronze medal in the 100 m behind Justin Gatlin and Michael Frater though he was given the same time as the latter.

Finishing fourth in his heat, Collins qualified for the finals in the men's 200 m race in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finished in sixth place on 20 August 2008. He competed at the 2009 World Championships and reached the quarter-finals of the competition, but he was eliminated after finishing in fourth place behind eventual finalists Asafa Powell, Darvis Patton and Marc Burns. He announced his retirement from international athletics in September that year, bringing an end to a career that spanned almost 17 years.

Collins returned to athletics on 29 January 2011 at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow, reversing his retirement at the age of 34, and he finished fourth in the 200 metres. He then won at the Russian Winter Meeting in Moscow. He set a 60 m personal best and national record of 6.52 seconds to win at the PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf, overhauling his best mark which he had set nearly eleven years earlier. That time did not stand for as long, however, as he ran 6.50 seconds in the heats of the BW-Bank Meeting a few days later. Collins won both his heat and semi-final races in the 100 m at the 2011 World Championships before finishing third and winning a bronze medal in the final after the disqualification of Usain Bolt. At the men's 4 × 100 m relay qualifying heats, Collins ran the second leg for the St Kitts and Nevis relay squad and helped clock a national record of 38.47, leading to St. Kitts and Nevis' first-ever final. The last event saw Collins team up with Jason Rogers, Antoine Adams and Brijesh Lawrence to clock 38.49 to win the bronze medal.

At the XVI PanAmerican Games in Guadalajara 2011, Collins broke the 28-year-old PanAmerican Games record with a time of 10.00 in the early heat. He finished second in the finals to Jamaica's Lerone Clarke. His silver medal was the first-ever medal for St. Kitts and Nevis at the Pan-Am Games.

Collins was expelled by his team from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on 4 August 2012 for missing training sessions. He said he was being punished for spending time with his wife.

Collins was the oldest sprinter at 2016 Summer Olympics, his fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympics. While most sprinters peak in their 20s, Collins set his personal record after reaching the age of 40, and became the first individual to run a sub-10 second 100 m dash in the process. He ran a 9.93 100 m dash, which was fast enough to qualify for Rio de Janeiro. He competed in both the 100 m sprint and 4 × 100 m relay. Collins was the only St. Kitts and Nevis athlete to make it out of the first round. He finished his heat with a time of 10.18 and fourth place. He improved his time in the semifinals, finishing with a time of 10.12. This put him in sixth place and he did not advance to the finals.

In 2018 Collins announced his retirement, he competed at the 60 m at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships. His last performance at a World Championship.

25 August was declared Kim Collins Day by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis in honour of Collins’ gold at the World Championships in Paris, France in 2003.

Statistics Personal bests Event Environment Time(sec) Record Wind(m/s) Date Competition Venue Location Country 50 metres Indoor 5.75 10 February 2009 Meeting Pas de Calais Arena Stade Couvert de Liévin Liévin France 55 metres Indoor 6.24 24 February 2001 WAC Indoor Championships Reno Livestock Events Center Reno, Nevada United States 60 metres Indoor 6.47 17 February 2015 Pedro's Cup Atlas Arena Łódź Poland 60 metres Outdoor 6.48 +0.3 29 July 2014 Grand Prix of Cheb Atletický Stadion Cheb Cheb Czech Republic 100 metres Outdoor 9.93 +1.9 29 May 2016 NRW-Gala Bottrop Jahnstadion Bottrop Germany 200 metres Outdoor 20.20 +0.1 9 August 2001 World Championships Commonwealth Stadium Edmonton Canada 400 metres Outdoor 46.93 22 April 2000 TCU Invitational Lowdon Track and Field Complex Fort Worth, Texas United States 4 × 100 metres relay Outdoor 37.97 13 September 2014 Continental Cup Stade de Marrakech Marrakesh Morocco All information from IAAF Profile

Seasonal bests

International competition record

2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final runner-up 2003 IAAF World Athletics Final fifth placer 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final fifth placer 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final fourth placer

National titles NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships 60 m: 2001 200 m: 2001 NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships 4 × 100 m relay: 2001

Circuit wins 60 metres Russian Winter Meeting: 2011, 2013, 2015 PSD Bank Meeting: 2011, 2015, 2016 ISTAF Indoor: 2014, 2015, 2016 Copernicus Cup: 2015 Pedro's Cup: 2015 Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix: 2015 Malmö Games: 2015

100 metres Vardinogianneia: 2001 Athletissima: 2001 Bélem Grand Premio Brasil de Atletismo: 2002 Żywiec Cup: 2002, 2003 Prefontaine Classic: 2002, 2003 DN Galan: 2002 Adidas Track Classic: 2003 London Grand Prix: 2003 British Grand Prix: 2004, 2005, 2016 Brothers Znamensky Memorial: 2008 Meeting Lille Métropole: 2008 Kawasaki Super Meet: 2011 FBK Games: 2011 Janusz Kusociński Memorial: 2011 Meeting International de Sotteville-lès-Rouen: 2012 Great CityGames Manchester: 2013, 2016 Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar: 2013 Ostrava Golden Spike: 2013 Gyulai István Memorial: 2013, 2014 Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat: 2014 Berlin ISTAF: 2015, 2016

200 metres Vardinogianneia: 2001

4 × 100 metres relay DN Galan: 2007

Track records As of September 2024, Collins holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.

100 metres LocationTimeWindspeedm/sDateNotes Basseterre 9.94 +3.4 13/06/2015 Wattenscheid 10.08 +2.3 02/08/2009 Bottrop 9.93 +1.9 29/05/2016 Guatemala City 10.04 –0.2 20/07/2001 Kumagaya 10.01 +2.3 06/09/2016 Tomblaine 9.96 +2.4 08/07/2012 Track record shared withMike Rodgers (USA) from the same race.

200 metres LocationTimeWindspeedm/sDate Gold Coast 20.37 +2.1 10/09/2000