‘Flawed’ Usain Bolt still way out in front

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1 June 2012

Asked to assess where he stood in terms of his preparations for the London Olympics after his 100metre win in the Diamond League here last night, Usain Bolt leaned into the microphone and replied: “Well, I think I’m getting there.”

Resplendent in an Italy football shirt, he added: “It’s not perfect. My race had flaws but I’m just happy to continue working on what’s necessary. I’ll call my coach and see what I need to improve in my race. Overall, I think it’s going well.”

However, the world’s fastest man still has work to do if he is to become the first sprinter to win back-to-back Olympic crowns at both 100m and 200m. Nonetheless, as ‘flawed’ 100m races go, winning one in 9.76 seconds has to be rated as pretty damned encouraging.

As in his opening European race of the season in Ostrava in the Czech Republic a week ago, Bolt got rather stuck in his starting blocks again. This time, though, he got into his running much quicker and with greater momentum.

The 25-year-old caught his Jamaican team-mate Asafa Powell halfway down the track and steamed past to win by 0.15sec. It was his joint-fastest time since his 9.58sec world record run at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009 (he also clocked 9.76sec in Brussels at the end of last season) and a time he has only bettered in his three world record-breaking races at the distance.

Coming after his 10.04sec in Ostrava, his slowest time outside of heats and semi-finals in championships, it was confirmation that Bolt is back to something approaching his very best two months out from the Games.

“After Ostrava a lot of people questioned me but I never questioned myself,” Bolt said. “I came out here not to prove anything to the world but to tell myself that I’ve still got it.

“Everybody has a bad race. You’ve just got to go back to the drawing board. I wasn’t getting enough sleep in Ostrava. When I came here I made sure I went to bed early and had the food to eat. It was very much better.”

Bolt was not the only athlete heading away from the Eternal City today with that ‘top of the world’ feeling.

At the end of last summer Robbie Grabarz was dropped from Lottery funding but in the Stadio Olimpico last night — in his Newham and Essex Beagles club vest — the 24-year-old showed Olympic medal potential as he soared to the top of the high jump rankings with a leap of 2.33m.

There was also a long jump victory for team-mate Greg Rutherford, who recorded 8.32m while Dwain Chambers helped the GB 4x100m relay team to second place behind Canada.

‘Flawed’ Usain Bolt still way out in front

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