Triple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt was helped by a favourable breeze to cover the 100 metre distance here in 9.77 secs, just outside the world record he set in Beijing (9.69 secs) last year.
Triple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt was helped by a favourable breeze to cover the 100 metre distance here in 9.77 secs, just outside the world record he set in Beijingu00a0 (9.69 secs) last year.
The 22-year-old Jamaican was ahead of Briton Craig Pickering and Frenchman Ronald Pognon in the race at the
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Usain Bolt after winning the 100m event in 9.77 secs at the IAAF meet yesterday. pic/AFP |
Grand Prix athletics event in Ostrava.
"It was a good race overall. I'm happy with myself. I had a very poor start. Horrible. The gun was fast and surprised me," said Bolt, who raced with favourable wind of 2.1 metres per second. In the event of a record it would not have been validated, 2.0 metres a second being the permitted limit.
"The wind is part of life. It's not frustrating. You have to deal with it. Sometimes you have the wind with you, sometimes against."
It was Bolt's first challenge in a top category athletics event this year. In March he ran a wind-affected race in the Caribbean before appearing at high-profile media opportunities, including a 150 metre race in Manchester city centre, and at Toronto. However, Bolt is preparing rigorously for the World Championships in Berlin in August.
Meanwhile, Olympic champion Dayron Robles set the fastest 110 metres hurdles time of the year on his way to victory in the discipline at the Ostrava meet.
Benefiting from the wind, the Cuban won the race in 13.04, just ahead of the USA's Dexter Faulk and Shamar Sands of the Bahamas.
