Kendra thunder lightning Bolt
American shatters women’s 100m hurdles WR, Jamaican eases to first 200m win of season
LONDON: Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt promised he will be physically ready for next month’s Rio Olympics — on the night Kendra Harrison broke the 28-year-old 100 metres hurdles world record.
Bolt, running at the track where he achieved the individual Olympic sprint double and the 4x100m relay for the second time four years ago in London, was the star attraction on day one of the Anniversary Games in front of 40,000 people at the Olympic stadium and he did not disappoint in the men’s 200m.
Brushing aside any concerns about the hamstring injury which forced him to withdraw from his country’s Olympic trials in Kingston earlier this month, Bolt ran a time of 19.89sec in his first competitive 200m of this season.
STAR OF THE NIGHT
For once, though, Bolt was not the best athletics performance of the night. That went instead to an American who, incredibly, will not be running in Rio.
Harrison has not been selected for the US Olympic team but she showed the selectors what they will be missing by lowering the
100m hurdles world record.
The mark of
12.21sec ran by
Bulgarian Yordanka
Donkova has stood since
1988 but Harrison went 0.01sec under that to earn himself a Diamond League bonus of $50,000. Let’s have the good news first! Usain Bolt has returned from injury with a victory. The Jamaican sprint legend, who suffered an hamstring injury last month during the Jamaican national championships, won the 200m at the Olympic Stadium in London on Friday. Having clocked a competitive race, he is now eligible to be picked in the Jamaican team. He has already qualified for the 100m. The matter of concern is that
Bolt’s time of 19.89 seconds BOLT ACCUSES GATLIN OF ‘DISRESPECT’
Bolt reignited his rivalry with fellow sprinter Justin Gatlin, accusing the American of “disrespect”, just two weeks before the Rio Olympics.
The 29-year-old had received a medical exemption to miss the Jamaican trials — sparking claims from Gatlin who said he had preferential treatment that he would not receive were he American. “For me I felt it was a joke, I felt it was a disrespect they think I’d back out of a trials,” he said. “I’ve proven myself year on year that I’m the greatest. I laughed when I heard it, I was disappointed, especially in Justin Gatlin.” is only the fifth fastest this year and he will not only have to continue to work on his recovery but also boost his time during the competition in Rio.
American duo Lashawn Merritt (19.74) and Justin Gatlin (19.74) lead the standings and will be the top contenders for gold medal in Rio unless Bolt gets into the groove at the races and completes a hat-trick of sprint doubles (100200) having won it at Beijing (2008) and London (2012).