I will be fine for London, insists below-par Bolt
First of all, the caveat: Usain Bolt has made a fool of the doubters before and he probably will again. He remains unwavering in his conviction that he will “be fine” when it comes to defending his world title in London in less than six weeks’ time and it would be imprudent for anyone to suggest otherwise.
But, on the basis of his health issues and of his two runs this season, there is no hiding from the significant amount of work required in a short time.
It was something his coach, Glen Mills, had admitted prior to Bolt’s sluggish 100metres victory at the Golden Spike here in the Czech Republic last night.
“His preparation is not normally where it is at this time, so he certainly has ground to catch up,” Mills said. So it seems. Victory should have been a given and yet somehow it almost did not happen.
The cobwebs had required little more than a light dusting on his seasonal debut in Kingston this month, when he beat a supporting cast of Jamaican has-beens and never-will-bes by running 10.03 sec.
This time around his rivals featured a handful of eastern Europeans, an ageing Cuban and a Turkish sprinter who had switched allegiance because he could not make the Jamaican team. In terms of a legitimate 100m race it looked pitiful.
As it turned out, Bolt was thankful not to have faced any tougher competition. Slow out of the blocks, the eight-time Olympic champion trailed at halfway before just about overhauling Cuba’s Yunier Perez in the closing stages. His time was 10.06sec and the winning margin just 0.03sec. There were even suggestions he may have been limping slightly after crossing the line.
“I never worry. I just need to go to the doctor [former Bayern Munich doctor Hans-wilhelm Müllerwohlfahrt] and get everything checked out to make sure it is smooth,” Bolt said. “It’s just my back, as always. It is a bit tight. But I didn’t get injured and that’s the key thing. It’s just about sorting it out and I should be fine for London.”
Perhaps this was the shock he needed to halt the pedestrian tempo of what has been little more than a final-season exhibition tour.
For all the goodwill offered to the sport’s most illustrious figure, there can be no doubting that the serious business must begin now. Bolt has one more race scheduled, at the Monaco Diamond League, before the London World Championships. Then he will be gone.
Where Bolt’s impending retirement is guaranteed to leave an almighty hole at the core of the sport, there is a growing sense every time Wayde van Niekerk steps off the track that he is the man to fill it.
Already the first man in history to break 10 seconds for 100m, 20 seconds for 200m and 44 seconds for 400m – a distance over which he is world record holder – the South African added another to his ever-growing list of accolades by breaking the world record for the rarely run 300m last night to take victory in 30.81sec. The only other men to have broken 31 seconds are Michael Johnson and Bolt.
The other headline act of the night was Mo Farah, who was attempting to break the British 10,000m record of 26min 46.57sec he set in 2011 – a time before knighthoods, Olympic titles and global success.
Hamstrung by a lack of credible opposition to push him to new heights, his personal best remained intact, but victory was never in doubt as he crossed the line in 27 min 12.09 sec.