Usain Bolt ran the world’s fastest 150m to win a soggy street sprint on Sunday that marked his return to action after a car crash left him requiring foot surgery.
In windy Manchester, the triple Olympic champion ran down the northern English city’s main thoroughfare in 14.35 seconds, breaking Donovan Bailey’s 12-year-old world best of 14.99 seconds in the rarely run 150m. Pietro Mennea of Italy ran in a hand-timed 14.8 seconds in 1983.
The Jamaican appeared to stumble after surging out of the blocks, but then got into his stride. He then struggled to slow down after the finish despite organizers extending the temporary track by 70m and crashed into a camera.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I was kind of worried, I thought I was going to die at the end,” he joked. “My agent told me that the finish of the race was the clock and I was running after the race was done, about 50m more.”
The last 100m was run in 8.70 seconds, considerably faster than his world record time of 9.69 seconds that won Olympic gold last August.
“Oh wow — that’s good,” he said after being informed of the time.
Last month, Bolt crashed his BMW into a ditch along a highway and required minor surgery on his left foot after stepping onto thorns while getting out of the wreckage.
Marlon Devonish of Britain was second in 15.07 seconds, followed by Ivory Williams of the US and Britain’s Rikki Fifton in the four-man race.
Debbie McKenzie Ferguson of the Bahamas won the women’s race in 16.54 seconds, ahead of Britain’s Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, who finished in 17.10 seconds.
Earlier, the man hailed as the world’s greatest long distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie, won the Great Manchester Run by 34 seconds, but a strong wind stymied his attempt to regain the 10km world record.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB