OSTRAVA, Czech Republic, CMC – Jamaican Usain Bolt majestically recovered from a sluggish start and clocked a fast wind-assisted 9.77 seconds to land the 100 metres at the Ostrava Golden Spike IAAF Grand Prix meeting on Wednesday.
With a following wind of 2.1 metres per second (mps), Bolt accelerated superbly over second half of the race and won unchallenged, ahead of Britain’s Craig Pickering (10.08).
“That’s probably the second worst start I ever had,” he said of his 0.206 reaction time.
The triple Olympic gold medallist and 2008 Laureus Sportsman of the Year was by far the slowest out of the blocks.
He appeared to be fourth at the mid-way point but no one could match him when he accelerated.
“I saw that I was behind and I really wanted to run a fast time here, so I really pushed hard to get back. That’s why you saw me really dipping at the line. I’m always good in the second half and that was when I got back into the race,” Bolt told reporters after his win.
The marginally over-the-limit wind-reading denied Bolt a shot at the meet record, 9.85 established by fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell four years ago.
Pickering and Martinique-born Ronald Pognon (10.15) were soundly beaten by the 6-foot-5-inch Jamaican marvel.
Jamaica secured another win at the meet when Delloreen Ennis-London captured the 100-metre hurdles and Cuban Dayron Robles grabbed a share of the spotlight with Bolt with a sizzling world-leading run in the men’s sprint hurdles.
In only his second outing of the season, Olympic champion Robles surged to an impressive time 13.04 seconds.
Robles, who set his world record of 12.87 on the same track 12 months ago, pushed American Dexter Faulk (13.13) into second spot.
The rising Bahamian star Shamar Sands ran a national record 13.38 seconds for third. The race was run with a following wind of 2.0 mps, the maximum allowable for a legal time.
Ennis-London delivered a personal season’s best 12.79 to win ahead of Americans Michelle Perry (12.86) and Danielle Carruthers (12.90).
In the men’s 200 metres, Ireland’s Paul Hession won in a wind-assisted (+2.2 mps) 20.44 seconds ahead of Zimbabwe’s Brian Dzingai (20.45) and young Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade placed third.
Ashmeade, a World Youth and Junior Championship medallist, who won the Under-20 Boys 200 at the CARIFTA Games in April, clocked 20.72 for third.