Olympic champion and world-record holder Usain Bolt won the 100m in 9.77 seconds at the Golden Spike meet on Wednesday.
Bolt had a strong tail wind of 2.1m per second — too fast to make the time count officially — but he wasn’t complaining.
“I’m just happy I got under 10 seconds,” he said. “Sometimes I got the right wind, sometimes I don’t. I’m just happy I ran injury free.”
“It was quicker than I thought,” said the Jamaican, who was cheered by the crowd long after his race. “It was not an easy victory. I had some problems at the beginning so the result is great for me. I enjoy winning.”
After a seemingly slow start he wasn’t happy about, Bolt cruised to victory ahead of Britain’s Craig Pickering, who finished well behind in 10.08. Ronald Pogon of France was third in 10.17.
Olympic 110m hurdles champ Dayron Robles of Cuba, who set the world record at 12.87 seconds in Ostrava last year, won this year in 13.04 seconds, the world’s best time this season. He was followed by Dexter Faulk of the US in 13.13 and Shamar Sands of Bahamas in 13.38.
The 2005 world champion, Bershawn Jackson of the US, won the men’s 400m hurdles in 48.32 seconds, also in the best time of the season, with Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic second in 49.20 and Marek Plawgo of Poland third in 49.59.
Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia was running neck and neck with Kenya’s Linet Masai in the women’s 5,000m until she reached the finish in 14 minutes, 34.17 seconds. Masai was just 0.19 second behind followed by another Kenyan, Vivian Cheruiyot, in 14:38.26.
Paul Hession of Ireland took the men’s 200m with a strong finish, beating Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe by one-hundredth of a second in 20.44 seconds.
Double world champ Michelle Perry of the US was beaten by Jamaica’s Delloreen Ennis-London in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Ennis-London crossed in 12.79 seconds.
Perry, who hit a hurdle, finished in 12.86 while Danielle Carruthers of the US was third in 12.90.
“I hit the seventh hurdle,” Perry said. “It’s a pity. I wanted to improve my reputation [here] after I had false starts in 2007.”
In the rarely contested women’s 20,000m, Dire Tune of Ethiopia targeted the world record of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 26.6 seconds set by Tegla Loroupe of Kenya in 2000, but finished well outside in 1:05:35.3.
“I think the pacemakers were not good enough. It was slow and it was very hard to run such a long track alone,” Tune said.
Olympic silver medalist Maria Abakumova of Russia disappointed the crowd of some 22,000 by winning the women’s javelin with a throw of 66.89m, beating Czech Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, who was third with 65.92m. Christina Obergfoell of Germany was second with 66.88m.
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