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NEW YORK: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set the 100-meter world record
Saturday, clocking 9.72sec at the Reebok Grand Prix athletics
meeting.
Bolt, 21, lowered the record of 9.74 seconds set
by compatriot Asafa Powell at Rieti, Italy, in September.
With a favorable wind of 1.7m/sec, Bolt finished
ahead of 100-meter and 200-meter World Champion Tyson Gay of the
United States (9.85) and American Darvis Patton (10.07).
Bolt, the 200-meter world championships silver
medallist, had signaled his arrival on the 100-meter scene in this
Olympic year in early May, when he clocked 9.76—then the
second-fastest time in history—at a meeting in Jamaica.
Bolt’s performance on a night disrupted by
thunderstorms and lightning, jolted a crowd of 6,490 that included a
big Jamaican contingent.
Bolt had already set the athletics world buzzing
on May 3, when he clocked 9.76—second fastest in history—at a
meeting in Kingston.
Even after that, the lanky Jamaican, runner-up
to Gay in the 200m at last year’s world championships, had said he
thought the longer sprint was for him.
China’s superstar hurdler Liu Xiang opted not
to defend his 110-meter title, pulling out of the race complaining
of a tight hamstring. In his absence, world silver medalist Terrence
Trammell won in 13.11 seconds.
-- AFP
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