Jamaica's Usain Bolt clocked a 100m world record of 9.72 seconds on Saturday to electrify the Reebok Grand Prix athletics meeting.
The 21-year-old broke the previous record of 9.74 seconds set by compatriot Asafa Powell in Rieti, Italy, on Sept. 9 last year.
With a favorable wind of 1.7mps, Bolt finished ahead of 100m and 200m World Champion Tyson Gay of the US (9.85 seconds) and American Darvis Patton (10.07 seconds).
PHOTO: AP
On a night when thunderstorms and the threat of lightning forced a 45 minute disruption to the action — and that after the start of the meet was delayed for an hour — Bolt delivered the real jolt of the night.
The 1.95m tall Jamaican immediately became the man to beat as the athletics season builds toward the Beijing Olympics in August, with Gay, Powell and the rest of the world’s sprinters relegated to the role of challengers.
“This world record doesn’t mean a thing unless I get the Olympic gold medal, or win at the World Championships,” he said.
Bolt, the 200m world championships silver medalist, had set the athletics world buzzing on May 3 when he clocked 9.76 seconds — then the second-fastest time in history — at a meeting in Kingston.
With that performance he appeared poised to live up to his earlier credentials, which included world junior records and being the youngest man to reach a World Championship sprint final, at Helsinki in 2005.
While Bolt is now front and center in the 100m reckoning, he said the 200m remains his passion.
“I always say the 200 is my favorite race. That’s not going to change,” said Bolt, who is considered by many a likely threat to Michael Johnson’s 200m world record of 19.32 seconds set in Atlanta in 1996.
On the same East River island in New York City — but at a different stadium — that saw Leroy Burrell and Frank Budd set previous 100m world records, Bolt blazed out of the blocks and was never threatened.
“I knew if I got out of the blocks OK, I’d have a good chance,” Bolt said. “I knew this was a fast track and that I was ready to run something in the 9.7’s. But 9.72, that’s pretty good. When I saw the time they put on the board [at first 9.71] I realized it was something special.”
The large contingent of Jamaican fans among the sellout crowd of 6,490 at the Icahn Stadium went wild with delight.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
RSS