Bolt seals sprint double and another new record
JAMAICAN sprint sensation Usain Bolt smashed another world record to claim 200m gold at the World Championships – and then claimed he hadn’t run a good race.
Bolt, who earlier this week in Berlin obliterated his own best time to set a new benchmark in the 100m, again left the field trailing in his wake with a time of 19.19 seconds.
The 23-year-old, who celebrates his birthday today, had insisted in the build-up that another world record was out of the question. But he bettered the time he set at last summer’s Beijing Olympics by 0.11 seconds to underline his utter dominance of sprint events, despite seeing room for improvement.
“I can definitely say I didn’t expect that because I was a little bit tired,” said Bolt, who missed a chunk of 200m training earlier this year following a car accident.
“I said let’s try because people are really looking out for this, I said it won’t hurt to try. So I tried really hard and now I’m really tired. Maybe next time I should just run the 200m or the 100m alone. My form was going backwards. I wasn’t running upright. It wasn’t a good race but it was a fast one.”
British long-jumper Greg Rutherford, meanwhile, set a new national record of 8.30m to book his place in tomorrow’s final.
Team-mate Mo Farah ensured his place in Sunday’s 5,00m final, while Michael Rimmer qualified for today’s 800m semi-final. Will Sharman came fourth in the 110m hurdles final.
Meanwhile, world record holder Paula Radcliffe has pulled out of the marathon on Sunday after failing to recover from her foot injury. The 35-year-old Briton underwent surgery back in March but enjoyed a successful return to action last Sunday when she won the New York Half Marathon.
But despite flying into Germany that very same night, she admitted she was still not ready to compete over the full 26 miles.
“I am devastated I wasn’t ready in time, especially having got so close in such a short time frame,” Radcliffe said.