Friday, 12 June 2009
Bolt beats the rain - 10.00sec in Toronto
Usain Bolt of Jamaica on his way to winning the 100m (Getty Images)
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Toronto, Canada - It poured with rain in Toronto Thursday night but the only lightning on the track at Varsity Stadium was the familiar sight of Usain “Lightning” Bolt running away from the field midway through the featured 100m at the Festival of Excellence.
A couple of false starts prolonged the drama which the large crowd thoroughly enjoyed particularly those who had paid $160 for a start line seat. But it did nothing to unsettle the triple Olympic champion whose pre-race antics were cheered widely by a large Jamaican-Canadian contingent.
The faulty track side clock stopped at 9.2 seconds raising eyebrows but the official time on the slick track was 10.00 seconds into a wind of -0.9m/s.
“It threw me off a little,” Bolt said of the false starts, ”but not much. I’ve been there before. Athletes have good days and bad days. I guess I will put this down as a bad day for me. Definitely I enjoyed it I always enjoy it when I run.”
“It felt good. I think I could have done a little bit better. But it’s alright I got through it injury free and that’s a good thing.”
American Shawn Crawford claimed second place in 10.25 seconds just slightly ahead of Ivory Williams in 10.28 seconds.
One reporter asked Bolt if he was ready to take on LaShawn Merritt over 400m. Bolt’s response was an adamant “I’m not running a 400m!”
The organisers had touted the return of world class athletics to Canada’s largest city and their mission must be deemed a success. Landing Bolt, who now goes on to Ostrava, Lausanne, Paris and London before competing at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, was a monumental achievement.
This was the 22-year-old’s first 100m race of the season. In February he recorded a 400m time of 45.54 in Kingston, Jamaica and then journeyed to Manchester to contest the rarely run 150m distance. While setting a world best time of 14.36 seconds he passed the 100m mark in 9.90 seconds.
Merritt dominant as well
Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt made his presence felt turning in an impressive 400m victory in a time of 44.83 on the slick track. He too dominated his event making up the stagger on the field in the first 200 metres before coasting home.
“My thing is my time doesn’t really matter,” he said afterwards. “If I run a race, I know what I did wrong. But if I am feeling good that’s what really matters, Right now I am feeling great.
“It wasn’t the best conditions. But everyone ran in the same weather. I am all about whenever I step on the track its going to be equal. It drizzled in my lane, it drizzled in everybody else’s lane. It’s 400m you still got to go out and do what you go to do. We’re professionals. In any conditions at any given time you should be ready to go out and run.”
Ato Stephens of Trinidad was a well beaten second in 45.34 seconds ahead of Andrae Williams of the Bahamas.
The 2008 IAAF World indoor 400m champion Tyler Christopher was the crowd favourite but he struggled in 6th place (46.20s). This year marks his first under coach Derek Evely. His former coach Kevin Tyler is now with UK Athletics.
“I am good. My training is going good. I changed coaches this year so we are getting in to the swing of that,” he explained. “I am still trying to find my rhythm. This is my first 400m of the year. It’s a little slower than I wanted but it’s alright.”
The men’s 5,000m was meant to be an assault on the 13 minute barrier by Qatar’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen. But one of the pacemaking recruits couldn’t get a visa and Shaheen, the world 3000m Steeplechase record holder, found himself all alone after 1200m. Still he entertained the crowd with his solo effort of 13:22.70.
“I am a little bit disappointed with my race. I wanted to run under 13 minutes for the first time in North America,” he declared. “Running 13:22 is not on my calendar. I am very disappointed there was no pacemaker.”
“I am going back to my training base in Iten, Kenya and my first steeplechase will be in Athens one month from now. I will run the steeplechase at the World Championships in Berlin.”
Dathan Ritzehein of the US finished second in 13:34.00 while Haron Lagat of Kenya claimed third place in 13:38.80.
Lopes-Schliep edges Felicien
The women’s 100m Hurdles was a battle between two veteran Canadian athletes 2003 IAAF World Champion Perdita Felicien and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Despite their hands hitting at one point in the race Lopes-Schliep emerged victorious in a time of 12.86 just 0.02 seconds ahead of Felicien. The wind reading was a significant -1.8m/s
“I woke up this morning a little bit antsy,” the winner admitted. “I know there is more in the tank because I hit the last two hurdles in that race. I buckled a little bit at the end but I finished strong.”
“It’s like any other athlete (her rivalry with Felicien). We always come out and whoever is on that line is your competition.”
The pair will meet again on the same track two weeks from now at the Canadian Athletics Championships 25-28 June.
Canadians dominated the men’s mile race with Nathan Brannen, a 2008 Olympic semi-finalist winning with a furious last lap sprint in 3:55.07. Another Canadian Olympian, Taylor Milne finished second in a personal best time of 3:56.54. In all eight men broke four minutes on a foul night.
“I have picked up where I left off last year. It feels good not having to be chasing standards this year,” said Brannen. A year ago the University of Michigan graduate was told he might never run again after back surgery. Nevertheless he made the Canadian Olympic team.
Kenya’s Sally Kipyego ran a strong race in the women’s mile winning in a time of 4:29.64. After the pacemaker dropped out on the third lap she found herself in the lead but with 200 metres remaining Canada’s Malindi Elmore attacked. The Kenyan had more in reserve adnd regained the lead in the final straight.
“I just kept thinking about what I had left for the last part of the race. I had led for most of the race and I didn’t want to lose,” said the NCAA champion from Texas Tech.
“I felt great. I knew she was a great athlete. I wasn’t confident I would win but I was feeling good. This is a different level of competition for me after running NCAA, Completely different. But I am excited. Now my plan is to go at the end of the month and go back to Kenya for the world championships trials.”
Elmore ran 4:30.70 in second with Marina Muncan of Serbia third in 4:33.16.
Officials announced the crowd at 5,835 or roughly 97% capacity which bodes well for turning this into an annual event.
Paul Gains for the IAAF
A couple of false starts prolonged the drama which the large crowd thoroughly enjoyed particularly those who had paid $160 for a start line seat. But it did nothing to unsettle the triple Olympic champion whose pre-race antics were cheered widely by a large Jamaican-Canadian contingent.
The faulty track side clock stopped at 9.2 seconds raising eyebrows but the official time on the slick track was 10.00 seconds into a wind of -0.9m/s.
“It threw me off a little,” Bolt said of the false starts, ”but not much. I’ve been there before. Athletes have good days and bad days. I guess I will put this down as a bad day for me. Definitely I enjoyed it I always enjoy it when I run.”
“It felt good. I think I could have done a little bit better. But it’s alright I got through it injury free and that’s a good thing.”
American Shawn Crawford claimed second place in 10.25 seconds just slightly ahead of Ivory Williams in 10.28 seconds.
One reporter asked Bolt if he was ready to take on LaShawn Merritt over 400m. Bolt’s response was an adamant “I’m not running a 400m!”
The organisers had touted the return of world class athletics to Canada’s largest city and their mission must be deemed a success. Landing Bolt, who now goes on to Ostrava, Lausanne, Paris and London before competing at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, was a monumental achievement.
This was the 22-year-old’s first 100m race of the season. In February he recorded a 400m time of 45.54 in Kingston, Jamaica and then journeyed to Manchester to contest the rarely run 150m distance. While setting a world best time of 14.36 seconds he passed the 100m mark in 9.90 seconds.
Merritt dominant as well
Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt made his presence felt turning in an impressive 400m victory in a time of 44.83 on the slick track. He too dominated his event making up the stagger on the field in the first 200 metres before coasting home.
“My thing is my time doesn’t really matter,” he said afterwards. “If I run a race, I know what I did wrong. But if I am feeling good that’s what really matters, Right now I am feeling great.
“It wasn’t the best conditions. But everyone ran in the same weather. I am all about whenever I step on the track its going to be equal. It drizzled in my lane, it drizzled in everybody else’s lane. It’s 400m you still got to go out and do what you go to do. We’re professionals. In any conditions at any given time you should be ready to go out and run.”
Ato Stephens of Trinidad was a well beaten second in 45.34 seconds ahead of Andrae Williams of the Bahamas.
The 2008 IAAF World indoor 400m champion Tyler Christopher was the crowd favourite but he struggled in 6th place (46.20s). This year marks his first under coach Derek Evely. His former coach Kevin Tyler is now with UK Athletics.
“I am good. My training is going good. I changed coaches this year so we are getting in to the swing of that,” he explained. “I am still trying to find my rhythm. This is my first 400m of the year. It’s a little slower than I wanted but it’s alright.”
The men’s 5,000m was meant to be an assault on the 13 minute barrier by Qatar’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen. But one of the pacemaking recruits couldn’t get a visa and Shaheen, the world 3000m Steeplechase record holder, found himself all alone after 1200m. Still he entertained the crowd with his solo effort of 13:22.70.
“I am a little bit disappointed with my race. I wanted to run under 13 minutes for the first time in North America,” he declared. “Running 13:22 is not on my calendar. I am very disappointed there was no pacemaker.”
“I am going back to my training base in Iten, Kenya and my first steeplechase will be in Athens one month from now. I will run the steeplechase at the World Championships in Berlin.”
Dathan Ritzehein of the US finished second in 13:34.00 while Haron Lagat of Kenya claimed third place in 13:38.80.
Lopes-Schliep edges Felicien
The women’s 100m Hurdles was a battle between two veteran Canadian athletes 2003 IAAF World Champion Perdita Felicien and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Despite their hands hitting at one point in the race Lopes-Schliep emerged victorious in a time of 12.86 just 0.02 seconds ahead of Felicien. The wind reading was a significant -1.8m/s
“I woke up this morning a little bit antsy,” the winner admitted. “I know there is more in the tank because I hit the last two hurdles in that race. I buckled a little bit at the end but I finished strong.”
“It’s like any other athlete (her rivalry with Felicien). We always come out and whoever is on that line is your competition.”
The pair will meet again on the same track two weeks from now at the Canadian Athletics Championships 25-28 June.
Canadians dominated the men’s mile race with Nathan Brannen, a 2008 Olympic semi-finalist winning with a furious last lap sprint in 3:55.07. Another Canadian Olympian, Taylor Milne finished second in a personal best time of 3:56.54. In all eight men broke four minutes on a foul night.
“I have picked up where I left off last year. It feels good not having to be chasing standards this year,” said Brannen. A year ago the University of Michigan graduate was told he might never run again after back surgery. Nevertheless he made the Canadian Olympic team.
Kenya’s Sally Kipyego ran a strong race in the women’s mile winning in a time of 4:29.64. After the pacemaker dropped out on the third lap she found herself in the lead but with 200 metres remaining Canada’s Malindi Elmore attacked. The Kenyan had more in reserve adnd regained the lead in the final straight.
“I just kept thinking about what I had left for the last part of the race. I had led for most of the race and I didn’t want to lose,” said the NCAA champion from Texas Tech.
“I felt great. I knew she was a great athlete. I wasn’t confident I would win but I was feeling good. This is a different level of competition for me after running NCAA, Completely different. But I am excited. Now my plan is to go at the end of the month and go back to Kenya for the world championships trials.”
Elmore ran 4:30.70 in second with Marina Muncan of Serbia third in 4:33.16.
Officials announced the crowd at 5,835 or roughly 97% capacity which bodes well for turning this into an annual event.
Paul Gains for the IAAF