– Sprint ace confirmed for Thessaloniki and Daegu
MONTE-CARLO, CMC – Jamaica’s phenomenal World and Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has confirmed he will be racing at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Greece and the Daegu Pre-Championship Meeting in South Korea this month.
Bolt, who brilliantly won the sprint double – both in world record times — at the IAAF World Championship in Germany last month, is set to run the 200 metres at the September 12-13 World of Athletics Final in Thessaloniki.
He is expected to tackle the 100 metres on September 25 at the Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting.
Organisers of the IAAF World Athletics Final confirmed Monday that the sprint giant will race in the half-lap sprint on the second day of the final on Sunday September 13.
Bolt has contested only three 200-metre events so far this year including his Berlin World Championship run last month in an astounding 19.19 seconds, erasing his own world mark of 19.30 he posted in his Olympic victory in Beijing a year earlier.
Bolt last competed in the World Athletics Final in 2006 when he came third in 20.10 seconds in Stuttgart, Germany.
Already being labelled the greatest sprinter of all time, the 23-year-old Bolt is expected to compete in Shanghai after the World Athletics Final before travelling to Daegu.
Moon Dong-hoo, vice president of the organising committee for the 2011 Daegu IAAF World Championships in Athletics, said Bolt confirmed that he will race in Daegu and the details are now being worked out for his 100-metre appearance.
In Berlin, Bolt shattered his own world record by 0.11 seconds with a time of 9.58 seconds.
The Daegu organising committee did not disclose his payment, but media reports suggest Bolt is likely to receive US$500,000 for the race.
The Daegu Meeting is expected to attract 200 athletes from 30 nations competing in 16 track and field events.
In the meantime, the projected clash between Bolt and the American Tyson Gay at the Brussels Golden League Meeting on Friday will no longer happen.
Bolt has decided to run the 200 metres and Gay is booked for the 100 metres at the last Golden League meet of the season.
