Usain Bolt’s sizzling 9.58 sec world record 100 meters run on Sunday gave Jamaicans one more reason to celebrate, despite the tough economic times facing the island. Bolt, sparkled at the IAAF World Athletics Championships clipping .11 of a second from his earth shattering 9.69 seconds run at the Beijing Olympics exactly a year earlier.

American Tyson Gay, 9.71 secs,  separated Bolt from countryman Assafa Powell, 9.84, a former world record holder who has been recovering from a string of injuries.

The two wrapped themselves in a Jamaican flag and celebrated with a skank/shuffle popular in old time Jamaican reggae dance halls.

“I was ready to execute and I did just that,” bolt said of his performance. “I was focused and I came out there and executed and I got it right…

Asked how low he thought he could take the record, Bolt said he didn’t know but “for me anything is possible. I’m just going to do my best and hopefully I can keep on doing great things and keep on breaking records.”

Bolt said he was not concerned about the hype about the race as he does his worrying outside the competition.

“I had to worry outside of the season because it was up and down but coming to the championship I knew I was ready so there was no worry.”

Bolt’s time represents the biggest increase in the record since electronic timing was introduced in 1968.

In Kingston, Jamaican prime minister, Bruce Golding shared the nations joy in praising the athletes.

“This is another proud moment for Jamaica, another demonstration  that we can succeed at whatever we put our hearts to,” said Golding. “Usain Bolt is a testimony to what successes we can achieve through discipline and hard work . Asafa is no less  as he too, despite his injuries, has done exceptionally well. We are proud of them both . We are proud of all our athletes    and how they have been performing so far in Berlin and we wish them all the best.”

100 Metres Final result

1 Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.58SECS (WR)
2 Tyson Gay (USA) 9.71 (NR)
3 Asafa Powell (JAM) 9.84 (SB)
4 Daniel Bailey (ANT) 9.93
5 Richard Thompson (TRI) 9.93 (SB)
6 Dwain Chambers (Gbr) 10.00 (SB)
7 Marc Burns (Tri) 10.00 (SB)
8 Darvis Patton (USA) 10.34



About Mark Lee

Mark Lee has been a long-time journalist writing, editing and producing in print, radio television and new media.