BRUSSELS, Belgium: Usain Bolt battled the cold and a headwind, and was forced to come from behind to beat Asafa Powell in 9.77 seconds yesterday in a season farewell 100 meters at the Van Damme Memorial.
Running into 1.3 meter-per-second headwind, the Olympic champion had a bad start and immediately saw Powell shoot ahead of him. In his last race of the season, however, nothing was going to stop the world record holder from spoiling his farewell party in Europe.
Halfway through he pulled level with Powell and then his huge stride took over, finishing just .08 seconds off the world record he set at the Beijing Games.
Powell, the only runner to have beaten Bolt this season, finished second in 9.83. Nesha Carter made it a Jamaican sweep in 10.07.“Asafa is a really fast guy. I’m getting used to chasing him,” Bolt said.
Powell, who had beaten Bolt in Stockholm this summer, took the loss well and celebrated with Bolt along the track, cheered by the sellout 47,000 crowd at the King Baudouin Stadium.
Bolt had long warned he feared the cold and it was just 15 degrees C (59 degrees F) at the start. Even his trademark showboating moves could not warm him up and when the starting gun went, he froze, getting dead last out of the blocks. Such is his superiority though that he can compensate whatever he loses within a mere five seconds.
Jelimo wins Golden League jackpot
Pamela Jelimo won the Golden League’s entire million-dollar jackpot yesterday, taking her sixth straight 800 meters at the Van Damme Memorial while high jumper Blanka Vlasic lost for the first time in the series.
Olympic champion Jelimo was as dominating as ever, throwing her competitors well back after one lap. And once the pacesetter had gone, she further built on the lead but could not threaten the world record. The 18-year-old runner finished in 1 minute, 55.16 seconds for a meet record, almost four seconds ahead of world champion and fellow Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei. Vlasic had a chance to split the $1m jackpot but was again defeated when it mattered, failing to clear 2.02 meters and finishing second to Germany’s Ariane Friedrich at 2.00 on a countback.
