Wayde sets new SA mark in farewell event for Bolt

OLYMPIC 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk reclaimed the 200m world lead as he broke the South African record at Usain Bolt’s farewell meet in Jamaica on Saturday night.

Van Niekerk clocked 19.84sec to shave 0.03 off the mark Anaso Jobodwana set in winning bronze at the 2015 world championships in Beijing.

Van Niekerk‚ who is aiming to do the 200m and 400m double at the world championships in London in August‚ had seen his world’s best time of 19.90 from April eclipsed late last month by American student, Christian Coleman‚ who clocked 19.85.

Countryman, Akani Simbine, was unable to recover from a slow start and had to settle for second place behind Bolt’s countryman‚ Yohan Blake‚ in their 100m race.

Blake crossed the line in 9.97 and Simbine‚ who has now lost two races in a row‚ in 10.00.

Both were faster than Bolt‚ who won the feature event of the Racers Grand Prix in 10.03‚ although they enjoyed a slightly stronger tail wind of 0.6m/secs compared to 0.2.

Bolt will not do the 200m at the world championships‚ after which he plans to retire.

The multiple Olympic and world gold medallist confessed to being a nervous wreck before running his last race on Jamaican soil.

“The run, I must say it was ok. I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous running a 100m,” Bolt said after a lap of honour before a packed stadium, including International Association of Athletics Federations president Sebastian Coe and the top brass of Jamaican politics, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

“I think that was possibly one of my worst races. My execution was poor, my start was poor as always. I think in the last bit I lost it a little.

“But I didn’t expect anything spectacular . . . my first race since January when I ran a 150m and some relays in Australia, so I just wanted to stay injury-free, put on a show for the crowd and shown them I’m thankful for the support over the years,” the sprinter said.

“Just the atmosphere and the people, the support they came out and give me tonight, it was really nerve-racking.

“I never expected this, I knew it was going to be big, the stadium was jam-packed so thank you guys for coming out and supporting me,” he said.

Running from lane five, Bolt took control of the race before the halfway mark and pulled away to the delight of more than 30 000 spectators.

“It’s big to see everybody that turned out. It shows that what I’ve done for the sport is a big deal to them and they really appreciate it,” the 30-year-old said.