Usain Bolt opened his European track season here yesterday by clocking 10.04sec in the 100m after a dreadful start at the second time of asking and into a -0.8ms headwind.
The double sprint gold medallist from the 2008 Beijing Games overcame his laborious start to show all his power from the 50m mark, the long-legged Jamaican opening up in impressive style to the line. Veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and St Nevis came second in 10.19sec with American Darivs Patton third in 10.22.
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As introductions were made on the stadium big screen, reggae music booming, Bolt danced, played air guitar and generally goofed around for the benefit of a capacity 20,000-strong crowd at the Vitkovice City Stadium in this eastern Czech city. When the screams and whistles died down, Bolt, wearing luminous green spikes and loose blue singlet, settled in his blocks after crossing himself and looking skywards.u00a0