World record holder Usain Bolt stormed to the fastest time of the year in winning the 100m at the Diamond League meeting here on Thursday. Olympic champion Bolt ran 9.76sec, beating the time he set earlier this month in Kingston by six hundredths of a second.
Compatriot and former world record holder Asafa Powell was second in 9.91sec with French European champion Christophe Lemaitre an impressive third in a high quality field in 10.04sec.
World bronze medallist Kim Collins of St Kitts & Nevis was fourth in 10.05sec. The win, and more importantly the time, made up for Bolt’s sluggish performance in Ostrava last week where he ran his slowest time in three years, 10.04sec. Although he said Tuesday he wasn’t bothered by that run, it clearly had got to him. Asked if he was happy to have put that run behind him, Bolt was categoric. “Yes, it’s a slight relief, I knew i could do it,” he told BBC3.
“I’ve not been sleeping very well since I arrived in Europe so I made sure I’ve been going to bed earlier. “I’m feeling good now, I’m coming back. “People expect me to do well, I expect it of myself also. I came here tonight not to prove to the world anything but to show I’ve still got it.” Bolt did not have the best start but Lemaitre inside him in lane three was the slowest out of the blocks. As the race picked up into its middle part Bolt and Powell were starting to ease clear but the fastest man of all time’s long legs saw him stride out in front and there was no doubt who the winner would be.
