Bolt was expected to open up a gap off the bend, but appeared to work hard on the finishing straight, showing there is plenty of work to do if he is to fulfil his aim of bettering his 2009 world record of 19.19s in Rio.
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“I knew I was in really good shape but I wanted to do it justice”.
The 30-year-old, back at the Olympic Stadium where she memorably took gold as the poster girl of London 2012, clocked 12.76 seconds to finish third in her heat. I’m only 23. But it’s right up there.
“My coach always says “Usain, you can always go onto the 2020 Olympics if you want to”, he said when asked by ESPN what would convince him to train on until Japan.
Incredibly, the 23-year-old American will not be going to Rio, after she could only finish in sixth at the USA trials two weeks ago.
Another American who has served a ban, LaShawn Merritt, tops the 200m rankings with 19.74, with Gatin just one hundreth of a second behind.
On a warm night, Canada’s Brandon McBride burned around the track at the old Olympic Stadium.
McBride, who just completed his senior year at Mississippi State University, fell just shy of Gary Reed’s Canadian record of 1:43.68, set on July 29, 2008 in Monaco.
McBride was coming off a victory at the Canadian Olympic trials in Edmonton, where he clocked 1:45.25.
France’s world pole vault record holder Renaud Lavillenie, who will defend his title in Rio, put his embarrassing miscalculation at this month’s European Championships – where his defence failed after he elected to delay competing until the 5.75m mark and then failed to set a mark in windy conditions – as he earned a timely morale booster with a faultless progression to 5.90m before three failures at 5.97.
Aaron Brown is heading in the wrong direction (track-wise, that is) two weeks before the Rio Games.
Fraser-Pryce, who has also been hampered by injury this year, should be on the start line for the women’s 100-meter final August 13. 98m – but still a very timely personal best and confidence boost. Haynes finished third at trials in a time of 10.21.
“This tells the rest of the world that we’re here to come for a medal in Rio”, said Henry.
Kendra Harrison of the USA runs on to win the women’s 100 meter hurdles in a world record time of 12.20 seconds during the Diamond League anniversary games at The Stadium, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, Friday, Ju. He was still added to the country’s Olympic team (obviously) but hadn’t shown that he was fully healthy since exiting the trials.
The Scot powered well clear of the field to come home in 3:57.49, winning by more than three seconds and eclipsing double Olympic champion Holmes’ mark of 3:57.90 from the Athens Olympics in 2004.
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Bolt, who was hailed as the saviour of his sport after his 100m and 200m victories ahead of Gatlin at last year’s World Championships in Beijing, hit back by saying: “For me I felt it was a joke – I felt it was a disrespect they think I’d back out of a trials”.
