Bolt regains form
Olympic champ bounces back after minor surgery on foot
OSTRAVA, Czech Republic – Usain Bolt is aiming to run less than 10 seconds in the 100 meters for the first time this season at the Golden Spike meet today.
The Jamaican sprinter ran a 10.0 to win in Toronto on Thursday. In May, he posted a 14.35 in the rarely run 150 on a temporary street track in Manchester, England, to break Donovan Bailey’s 12-year-old world record of 14.99.
Both races were held in wet weather and were Bolt’s first since requiring minor surgery on his left foot after crashing his car into a ditch in April.
This time, the weather is forecast to be fine.
“It should be good tomorrow, definitely. For me, 9.8 will be good,” Bolt said. “I’m liking the weather and I’m hoping that tomorrow will be like this.
“(I’m) not in the same shape as last year at the same time, but I’m really focused and I’m really working really hard to get where I was last season. My main aim is the world championship. That’s what I’m working towards.”
Bolt set world records in the 100 and 200 at last year’s Beijing Olympics and was part of the Jamaican team that broke the world record in the 4x100 relay. He believes his 9.69 in the 100 can be lowered, although he doesn’t expect to do so at the world championships in Berlin in August.
“There’s always a limit. I’m sure it’s somewhere 9.50,” Bolt said. “The Olympics was just something special. I don’t think I would need to break the world record to win (in Berlin).”
To do that, Bolt knows what he has to improve.
“My start is the weakest part of my 100 meters,” he said. “I really put emphasis on that.”
Bolt, who headlines the meet in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava that includes eight Olympic champions from Beijing, will reportedly earn about $250,000 for his participation. If he sets a world record, he will receive another $100,000, organizers said.