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.
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