Saturday 27 July 2013

Usain Wins Anniversary Games Bolt

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Usain Bolt celebrated his return to London's Olympic stadium with a convincing victory in the 100 metres at the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games.

The Jamaican, who won three gold medals at London 2012, overcame a sluggish start to race clear of the opposition and cross the line in a time of 9.85 seconds.

American Mike Rodgers was second in 9.98, with Bolt's compatriot Nesta Carter just one hundredth of a second further back in third position.

Although Bolt was clearly not at his best the performance was still his fastest of the year and shows his form is building ahead of next month's World Championships in Moscow.

Great Britain's newest sprint star James Dasaolu was unable to test himself against the world's fastest man, having to withdraw from the race as a precaution after feeling a tight hip flexor in the warm-up.

"The crowd here is unbelievable. They're wonderful. It's good to be back here. I've got a lot of love for this stadium and this crowd," Bolt said.

"I'm feeling good. It was nice to get the win and I'm confident going into Moscow."

He added: "(The start) was horrifying. I think I was just race rusty. I need to get a few races in. I think the rounds at the World Championships should help out just to get my legs freer get me a little bit lighter.

"I thought the last part of my race was pretty good, the first part was harder but that's normally Usain Bolt's race so I just need to work on a few things and I'll be all right."

While Bolt did not get close to his own world record, Ukrainian high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko attempted to beat the best mark of all time in his event.

Bondarenko won the competition with a height of 2.38m, but failed after raising the bar to 2.47m, which would have beaten Javier Sotomayor's world record by 2cm.

There was more sprint success for Jamaica in the 200m, with Warren Weir clocking a time of 19.89 to lead home compatriot Jason Young.

Elsehwere, Yarisley Silva of Cuba set a new Diamond League record as she cleared 4.83m to win the women's pole vault.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Kirani James took an easy win in the men's 400m in a time of 44.65
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