ROME – Reigning double Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt silenced his detractors yesterday, storming to a world-leading 9.76 seconds to win the 100 metres at the Rome Diamond League.
Questions were raised about cracks in Bolt’s armour after his sluggish 10.04 seconds in Ostrava last week but the Jamaican answered emphatically, bursting from the blocks to take the lead at 50 metres and dismissing his opposition.
Fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell was second in 9.91 seconds, while Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre was third in a season-best 10.04 seconds.
“People expect me to do well all the time and I expect that from myself also, it’s not really pressure for me. I came out here tonight not to prove anything but to tell myself I’ve still got it,” Bolt said.
“After Ostrava I decided I will make sure to go to bed early and start eating right. I feel extremely well, so it’s coming back and I’m feeling good.”
Veteran Kim Collins was away to a great start but Bolt, running out of lane four, drew level after 40 metres and burst to the front with nearly half the race to run.
He then accelerated to reach the line and surpass the world-leading mark of 9.82 seconds he posted in Kingston earlier this month.
“The race was much better than in Ostrava. After Ostrava a lot of people questioned me but I never questioned myself,” Bolt said.“My drive was better and I started well. The transition was also better.”
Powell, a former world record holder, said he didn’t hear “set” or “go” from the starter.
“I’m very upset with my race tonight. I’m not upset that I lost but that I couldn’t execute like I wanted to,” he said.
“I didn’t get out of the starting block like I should. I was all over the track.”
Collins was fourth in a season-best 10.05, while Jamaican Lerone Clarke finished fifth in 10.16.
This was the third Diamond League meet of the year but Bolt’s first.
He will also compete in a Diamond League meet in Oslo, Norway, next week before returning to Jamaica for national trials. He then plans to return to Europe for the 200 metres in Monaco on July 20, his last race before the London Games start a week later.
In the women’s 400 metres hurdles, Jamaican Kaliese Spencer continued her wonderful start to the year by clinching the contest in a season-best 54.39 seconds.
The American duo of Lashinda Demus (54.80) and T’Erea Brown (54.96) were second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica suffered a defeat in the 100 metres when she finished second to Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast.
Ahoure was clocked at 11 seconds flat while Fraser-Pryce crossed the line in 11.06. (CMC/AP)
