PRAGUE – Usain Bolt laboured to victory in the men’s 100 metres at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava yesterday, but was at a loss to explain why after failing to improve on his season best or meet the target he had set himself before the race.
Jamaica’s Olympic champion and World record holder clocked 10.04 seconds into a headwind to beat Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis (10.19) and American Darvis Patton, who was three one hundredths of a second further back.
It was the slowest time Bolt has run in his 30 sprint finals and a step down from the 9.82 he produced in his only previous outing this season in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 5.
“I’m disappointed,” Bolt told reporters. “At the start I felt pretty much no energy. I guess it was one of those bad days. I wasn’t feeling as strong as I usually feel out of the blocks, my legs felt dead. I don’t know what the reason is. I’ll need to go back to the drawing board, talk to the coach.”
Britain’s Dwain Chambers was fifth in a season best 10.28 but failed to reach the Olympic qualifying time of 10.18 that would have guaranteed him eligibility for selection.
In the men’s 400 metres, Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt of the United States won in 45.13 seconds while Veronica Campbell-Brown was victorious in the women’s 200 in 22.38.
Wallace Spearmon of the United States won the men’s 200 in 20.14 while fellow American Sanya Richards-Ross beat Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu in the women’s 400 in 50.65 seconds.
The men’s 110 metres hurdles was won by another American, Dexter Faulk, in 13.13, and Briton Tiffany Porter also matched her season best to claim the women’s 100 metre hurdles. (Reuters)
