The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bolt triumphs in Golden Spike meeting
Athletics: Farah also tastes victory at top-class event in Czech Republic
Usain Bolt lit up the 56th Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava by winning the 100m in his final appearance at the event.
The Jamaican was running for the ninth time in the steel city in the northeast of the Czech Republic, where his talent was first recognised back in 2006.
Bolt, racing the 100m for the second time in his farewell season after his 10.03 in Kingston, Jamaica, a month ago, had a sluggish start and was pushed until the 80m mark by Yunier Perez (Cuba).
Bolt sealed the win in the final strides, however, and was timed at 10.07 seconds, with Perez clocking a personal best 10.09.
Bolt said: “I’m not happy with the time but I am happy that I’m here. It’s one of my favourite meets, and to be here for the last time, it’s a great feeling.”
Meanwhile, Olympic 400m champion and world record-holder Wayde van Niekerk had a winning outing over the rarely-run 300m distance.
The South African proceeded to blow away the field, rounding the final bend five metres clear, to take the finish line in a world record 30.81 seconds.
Double Olympic champion Mo Farah was confident enough to wave to the crowd over the opening 50m of the 10,000m.
The well-tested Farah formula, which saw him settle in behind the pacemaker before forcing the pace, with only Mathew Kimeli in tow, appeared to have worked yet again.
The Kenyan had the audacity to take the lead with 500m to go, but the GB athlete responded with a sprint finish over the final 200m to clock 27 minutes 12.09 seconds. Kimeli, in second, clocked 27:14.43.
Two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha (Kenya) made his debut over 1,000m. He was leading going into the home straight but faded to finish in fourth place (2:19.43) as Kenyan colleague Nicholas Kipkoetch led the final 50m charge home in 2:18.51.
Stunned by his defeat at last weekend’s European Team Championships in Lille, Thomas Rohler (Germany) reasserted his javelin superiority with a mighty 91.53 secondround throw to win the competition.
Tomáš Stanek provided a home win in the shot, launching the weight out to 21.63m.
Nick Miller finished sixth in the men’s hammer (75.90m), while Sophie Hitchon placed fourth in the women’s event (73.68m).
Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland) dominated the women’s competition, collecting her 37th straight victory with a 79.72m meeting record.
For the men, Polish world champion Pawel Fajdek added more than a metre to his own world lead with an 83.44m effort, a meeting record.