FOR a fleeting moment late in the semi-finals of the men’s 200m at the IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow last week, 21-year-old South African sprinter Anaso Jobodwana thought he had caught sprinting superstar Usain Bolt relaxing a bit too early and thought he would get to the line ahead of him.

Jobodwana told the Jamaica Observer a day after the end of the nine-day track and field extravaganza he felt he could sneak through and win the race and get a victory over the man he calls his idol. “Okay, he is slowing down, let me try and get him,” he said with a laugh.

Bolt, who went on to win his third straight World Championships 200m title and who admitted later he was paying more attention to the American Isaiah Young to his right than the young South African to his left, heard the roar of the crowd and quickly picked up back his speed to win the heat and advance to the final.

Jobodwana ran a personal best 10.13 seconds to advance to the final where he finished sixth in 20.14 seconds, an improvement on his eighth-place finish at the London Olympic Games a year earlier.

The Jackson State (Mississippi) sophomore, who is majoring in biology, was coming off the sprint double win at the FISU World University Games in Kazan, Russia. He says running against Bolt gives him inspiration.

“Every time I run against Usain Bolt, which is not a lot, it is a great experience and an honour to run against him and be on the same track,” said Jobodwana.

He has competed head-to-head against Bolt a handful of times since last year and says occasionally he shares a word or two with the big Jamaican. “We spoke after the 100m semis in Moscow and sometimes in the call room. “It’s a motivation to run against one of my idols and I have looked up to him ever since 2007 or so when he was just starting to come on the circuit.”

Despite not getting the better of Bolt, Jobodwana said the overall Moscow experience has been positive: “Overall it was good, but not the best race I could run, but I did better than at the Olympics so it is a step forward,” he said. “It is cool to run against that quality and class, and to be one of the finalists gives me more to look forward to next season.”

Jobodwana just signed a professional contract but says he will complete his degree, taking online courses for the fall semester and “mix things up in the spring so I will have more time for training”.

Prior to going to Moscow, he claimed he spent some time in Florida training with coach Derrick Whyte and added he still has a lot of work left to do if he is to be a consistent finalist in the major global events.