IAAF World Championships Moscow 2013
Usain bolts to 200m hattrick
MAN
OR SUPERMAN? Jamaica sprinter Usain Bolt strikes his trademark pose
with his country’s flag after leaving the field in his dust to win his
third successive 200m crown at the World Athletics Championships in
Moscow yesterday. PHOTO: AFP
The 26-year-old Jamaican destroyed the field to finish in 19.66 seconds, teammate Warren Weir claiming silver in a personal best of 19.79sec and American Curtis Mitchell taking bronze in 20.04.
“I had to push myself to be the best,” said a subdued Bolt. “I’m really happy to get it done as the 200m is my favourite event.
“I knew it wouldn’t be the fastest of races as when I came into the straight I felt slightly tired and I started to look around me.”
It was Bolt’s seventh world gold medal after winning the 100 and 200m at the Berlin worlds in 2009, the 200m in Daegu in 2011, the 100m in Moscow on Sunday and golds as part of the winning Jamaican 4x100m relay squads in both 2009 and 2011.
He also has two silvers (200m, 4x100m relay) from the 2007 worlds in Osaka.
His burgeoning medal haul also includes unprecedented treble golds from both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Bolt now has the opportunity to draw level with the present mark of eight world gold medals won by retired American duo Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson when he races the 4x100m relay on Sunday.
Bolt, who had been nursing a sore foot after regaining his 100m title on Sunday, had the slowest reaction time of the eight-man field, but exploded into the corner and was up on Briton Adam Gemili on his outside in lane five within 10 paces.
As he rounded the bend, Bolt had a clear lead on the rest of the field, Weir in lane eight coming through late on.
Bolt’s sprint double was just the tonic for track and field, the credibility of which had again been called to account in recent weeks, notably after American sprint rival Tyson Gay and Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell tested positive for drugs.
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