Usain
Bolt blazed to yet another sprint double by destroying American rival
Justin Gatlin to retain his world 200 metres crown in Beijing on
Thursday, AFP reports.
The peerless Jamaican, who has now won
gold in his favourite event at the last four world championships,
clocked an electrifying time of 19.55 seconds with a jaw-dropping
display at the Bird’s Nest stadium, where he shot to fame at the 2008
Olympics.
His only scare came on his lap of honour
where he was bizarrely run over by a Chinese cameraman trying to film
while riding a two-wheeled Segway scooter.
But Bolt’s fireworks overshadowed a
strong evening for the United States after a ho-hum start to the
competition, with Allyson Felix storming to the women’s 400m gold and
Christian Taylor winning the men’s triple jump with the second longest
leap ever.
Once again, however, Bolt stole the
headlines on a balmy evening in the Chinese capital with a truly
staggering run, after drawing first blood in his rivalry with two-time
doping offender Gatlin by winning the 100m last weekend.
Kissing his vest and patting his chest
before the race, Bolt quickly blew past Gatlin coming into the bend,
surging clear to win in a season-leading time. Gatlin took silver in
19.74 and South African Anaso Jobodwana the bronze in a national record
19.87.
“There was no doubt,” said Bolt, winner
of an astonishing 11 of the last 12 individual world and Olympic sprint
titles since he lit up Beijing in 2008. “I told you guys I will do it.
When it comes to the 200 I am a different person.”
Felix and Taylor produced superb
performances to win the second and third gold medals for an American
team which had failed to fire over the first five days of the
championships. Kenya top the table so far with six gold medals, despite
two of their athletes failing doping tests.
Allegations of widespread doping plunged
athletics into crisis before the world championships but Bolt’s heroics
have once again papered over the cracks.
Felix, the most decorated female athlete
in track and field history based on her 200m and relay success,
justified her decision to step up to the 400m with a comprehensive win,
clocking a time of 49.26 seconds, the best in the world this year.
“It’s so different,” said Felix, who
went out at a blistering pace and looked unruffled throughout. “I wanted
to challenge myself this year and I’m happy I could be successful. I
had to take advantage of my speed and bring that to the 400m. I wanted
to control the race.”
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas claimed
silver in a personal best of 49.67, with Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson
taking bronze in 49.99.
Olympic champion Christian Taylor nailed
a cracking jump of 18.21 with his very last attempt to take gold. Only
Britain’s world record-holder Jonathan Edwards has jumped further,
leaping 18.29 in 1995.
“It was a great fight and I saved it
until my last jump,” said Taylor. “We are that close to a record, this
makes you even hungrier! I’m looking forward to Rio.”
Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo took silver,
as he did in Moscow two years ago, with a best of 17.73 while
Portuguese former Olympic champion Nelson Evora took bronze with his
17.52.
In Thursday’s other final, the women’s
hammer final went to form with world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk
winning with a mighty heave of 80.85 metres.
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