Jamaica’s Usain Bolt regained the World 100m title today at the 14th edition of the Championships in Moscow, Russia, and his countryman and world record relay team mate Nesta Carter, 27, snatched his first individual medal – a bronze – at an international outdoor championship.
Bolt, who did not get a chance to defend his 2009 World title in 2011 because he was disqualified for jumping the gun, didn’t seem to be in the peak form he was for the London Olympics last year. However, he lowered his season best (SB) in the final from 9.85secs (clocked in the London Diamond League meet last month) to 9.77 (-0.3) ahead of USA’s Justin Gatlin (9.85 SB) and Carter (9.95), the World Indoor silver medalist who has a Personal best (PB) of 9.87.
In a post-race interview, Bolt explained his modest time, noting that after the semi-final, his legs felt sore, so he decided against overdoing his effort and risking injury. “I just came out her to win, and I got it done.”
Rounding out the field were Jamaicans Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade, fourth and fifth, respectively (both timed at 9.98); Mike Rodgers of the USA (10.04); France’s Christophe Lemaitre (10.06); and Britain’s James Dasaolu (10.21).
It was the first time any country had four men in the 100m final at the Championships, and two of the Jamaican quartet clocked PBs to get there. Ashmeade ran 9.90 as the fastest semi-final and Bailey-Cole posted 9.93 to win another.
Women’s Fireworks Set to Begin
Meanwhile, the world awaits tomorrow’s 100m clash between Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who holds the world leading time at 10.77, and Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare, who recently clocked a PB of 10.79 to defeat Fraser-Pryce in London and now carries the expectation of her country to cop a medal. High on the radar since last night is the 21-yr-old US champion English Gardner, who after a flying start ran a full blast 10.94 to win the third heat. She was the only qualifier to go below 11 seconds in the heats.
Other experienced qualifiers chose to conserve energy for the semi-finals and final. Germany’s Verena Sailer won the first heat in 11.11; Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart, the second in 11.02; Fraser-Pryce the fourth in 11.15; Okagbare, the fifth in 11.03; and Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure, the 6th in 11.22.
For tomorrow’s semi-finals, Gardner will go up against the defending champion and her compatriot Carmelita Jeter; Stewart will face Fraser-Pryce, and Okagbare will be challenged by Octavious Freeman of the US. The fireworks are expected to begin.