Big 3 delivers— Bolt, Blake, Shelly sparkle in Zurich
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — Jamaican sprint duo Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake dominated the 100 and 200m at the Diamond League meet here yesterday, but Kenyan 800m star David Rudisha was upstaged by Ethiopian tyro Mohammed Aman.
In a high-quality night of action featuring 14 Olympic champions, training partners Bolt and Blake set new meeting records of 19.66 and 9.76 seconds in the 200 and 100m, respectively.
Fresh from his second successive triple gold haul at the Olympics, Bolt came around the bend into the final stretch just ahead of compatriot Nickel Ashmeade on his inside.
And then the imposing 26-year-old, also the world record-holder in both sprint events, switched on the afterburners in his drive phase to ensure a comfortable win in his favoured event.
“Running after the Olympics is much more fun, it is less stress,” said Bolt. “Now I have one more race (in Brussels on September 7) until the end of the season and I’m looking forward to it.
“During the season, you push yourself a lot and it’s only at the end that you realise how tired you are.”
Blake overcame a false start by top US sprinter Tyson Gay to hold his nerve in a 100m raced in chilly, wet conditions at a packed Letzigrund Stadium.
The 22-year-old, who won double sprint silver behind Bolt in the London Games and is currently the second fastest man in the world alongside Gay (after racing 9.69sec in Lausanne last week), rocketed out of his blocks at the second time of asking to power through the line.
Compatriot Nesta Carter was second in 9.95sec, with American Ryan Bailey (9.97) in third.
“I’m not at all surprised that after the Olympics I’m coming out so strong and so fast. It’s because my coach has a plan for me,” said Blake of Glen Mills, who also coaches Bolt.
“Next year I can be even better,” he warned.
But there was disappointment for Rudisha, the blazing two-lap specialist who was bidding to better his own world record of 1min 40.91sec he set when winning 800m gold at the London Games earlier this month.
Aman held on for a convincing win in a personal best of 1:42.53, with Rudisha timing 1:42.81.
One Olympic champion to also shine was Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who rebounded from two successive losses to Carmelita Jeter in Lausanne and Birmingham to easily trump the American in the Women’s 100m in 10.83sec.
Jeter clocked 10.97sec with teammate and 200m specialist Allyson Felix finishing third (11.02).
Other London champions to win were France’s Renaud Lavillenie in the Men’s pole vault (5.70m), Croat Sandra Perkovic in the women’s discus (63.97m), American Sanya Richards-Ross in the women’s 400m (50.21sec) and Russian Ivan Ukhov in the men’s high jump (2.31m).