Usain Bolt said he could call an early halt to his season after Friday's Golden League meeting in Zurich.
Bolt, who smashed his existing records in the 100m and 200m at the recent World Championships in Berlin, admitted to feeling tired from his exploits.
"I can't say I'm not tired. Hopefully I can tell after the race whether I can go for three more races," said Bolt.
Lisa Dobriskey, who claimed 1500m silver in Berlin, heads a small squad of British athletes in Zurich.
Dobriskey, who was elevated to second place after original winner Natalia Rodriguez was disqualified for pushing, will again meet most of the contestants from the Berlin final.
Bahrain's gold medallist Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Shannon Rowbury of the United States, who was third, also make an early return to action, while Dobriskey's fellow Briton Jemma Simpson, a semi-finalist in the 800m in Berlin, steps up in distance. Read more here...
The presence of Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt has guaranteed that the fifth of the six-leg Golden League on Friday will be a sell-out after his treble world gold medal haul.
The Letzigrund Stadium has long sold out its 26,000 tickets, largely based around an expectant crowd who will be treated to the stars of the recently-concluded World Athletic Championships in Berlin.
Bolt, who set new world records in the 100 and 200m (9.58 and 19.19 seconds), will not however be up against American Tyson Gay, who claimed silver in the worlds 100m but did not compete further after aggrevating a groin injury. Read more here...
Michael Johnson: Where does Usain Bolt go from here?
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is so much better than all the other 100m and 200m runners and at only 23 he is a world-record holder, world champion, and Olympic champion. So where does he go now?
Usually the World Championships held the year after an Olympics leaves much to be desired, but this was a great occasion, with world records, championship records, and some fine competitive races.
We knew last year that Usain Bolt could run much faster after he won the Olympic 100 metres gold, in Beijing, in 9.69 seconds after easing down 30m from the finish. But to see him cover 100m in 9.58sec, in Berlin, was unbelievable.
In the early rounds of the 200m the Jamaican said he was tired and looked it on his way to the final. It led many people to doubt he would break his world-record of 19.30 set in Beijing. But he did break the record again – running 19.19sec. Most impressive about his performance in the final was that I believe he really was tired: he appeared to start to fatigue at the end of the race, yet still managed to lower his world record. Read more here...
Bolt is much more than the world's greatest athlete
There is no question in my mind as to who the greatest athlete in the world is.
What Jamaica's Usain Bolt has done in the track-and-field world over the past two seasons, and to its venerable sprint and relay records, is nothing less than stunning.
Michael Phelps may rule the pool, and Tiger Woods the links, but both athletes would be hard pressed to match in the future what Bolt has done since early 2008, and will do into the next decade and beyond.
His dominance at the 100m distance has dropped the world record in the sprint from what is now a pedestrian 9.72 seconds to an unheard of, and unanticipated, 9.58.
Some 20 years ago, a university study noted, by their calculations, no one could, or would, run the 100m distance in less than 9.70 seconds because of the strain getting there would leave on the athlete, or athletes, who would even attempt it.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt dominated the world athletics championships in Berlin in the same way he did the Beijing Olympics, winning triple gold and shattering the world records for the 100m and 200m.
Bolt, whose razzamatazz and light-heartedness have offered a much-needed breath of fresh air to the world of athletics, beat American defending champion and arch-rival Tyson Gay into second in the 100m, running an astonishing 9.58 seconds.
But any further duels between the sprinters were cut short when Gay was ruled out injured after winning silver in 9.71sec in the 100m.
"Winning three gold medals in Berlin is wonderful, I am proud of myself," said Bolt.
"It's been a great championships, I have got my two records so it doesn't matter if I don't get one," he said after his Jamaica 4x100m relay team failed to better the world record they set in Beijing.
Usain Bolt sets sights on 200m record after smashing 100m world best
Usain Bolt is already plotting his next assault on athletics lore here in Berlin's Olympiastadion as he promises to do everything in his unreal powers to rewrite his 200 metres world record in the same fashion he obliterated his 100 metres mark.
As athletics was still rubbing its eyes at the most startling revision ever of the blue riband world record, following Bolt's 9.58sec triumph at the world championships, the great man himself was trying to play down the prospect that the same fate could now befall his half-lap record in Thursday's final.
Bolt said that after slicing an unprecedented 0.11sec off the 100m time he had exactly a year earlier, he doubted that he could now come out and repeat the same world record double of Beijing by lowering his 200m mark of 19.30sec. Read more here...
Puma broadcast of Usain Bolt 100m WR video + shoe photos
Hopefully the "takedowns" that have stopped many videos being enjoyed on 100m.com will not be suffered by Puma; makers of the fastest shoes on the planet.
If you want to see the shoes or the Bolt 100m WR video goes missing from this site or the link gets taken down : please try:
"he writes his own history with every stride that he takes"
"brilliant beyond compare"
"a talent beyond compare"
"frightening"
Asafa Powell 9.84 a distant third, 9.71 a new American national record....
Could the 4 x 100 be a Beijing repeat? Will the 200m see a new WR as well?
We have been Bolt fans for a long time and perhaps a little harsh on Tyson Gay for being "race shy" or "Bolt shy".
There is little doubt though that Bolt by putting himself on the track through adverse weather over the 100m in Europe has raced himself into shape and into the record books yet again over 100m.
His strategy of seeking out the competition and facing them again and again come rain or shine is a clear lesson to anyone.
To win you must get out there and race hard, prove to yourself and to anyone watching again and again that you are out there to win.
Winners go out and do what they do ... Bolt did just that over 100m in a manner that was stunning and the 200m is yet to come ...
Bolt delivers as expected over 100m with new World record
Monday, August 17, 2009
Usain Bolt took 0.11 seconds off his world record of 9.69, on his way to becoming the first Jamaican man to win the World Championship 100 metres title at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin yesterday.
In control at the 30-metre mark he blitzed the field to win by 0.13secs in 9.58secs (wind +0.9 m/s).
"For me it was all about just winning and I went out there and executed well and I got the right time, so I'm happy with myself,"
"I would definitely say I gave it most of what I had because Tyson Gay was right there, so I had to push. I'm not in the best of shape, but I'm in great shape,"
American Tyson Gay finished second in 9.71secs - the second fastest time of all time and Jamaica's Asafa Powell took bronze with a season best 9.84secs.
Gay was quoted as saying:
"I've been telling you someone could run 9.5. I'm happy he did it. It showed humans can take it to another level," said Gay,
"Well, I'm not sure if he's human; maybe he's from space," said Powell. "But it shows that it is possible, and a lot more guys are going to work hard to run 9.5s because Bolt has taken the sport to another level."
as for the 200m and another record Bolt said :
"Definitely, you can always expect great things from me because I always go out there and do my best all the time, so you can definitely expect great things in the 200m."
Carmelita Jeter led U.S.A. and Caribbean domination in qualifying for the women's 100 meters at the world athletics championships on Sunday with 11.22 seconds, as the U.S. and Caribbean won eight of nine heats.
Shelly-Ann Fraser let Brazil's Lucimar de Moura sneak in first, both finished in 11.41 seconds.
World champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart and Aleen Bailey wnrt trough.
Stewart in 11.31 and Campbell-Brown in 11.34.
Lauryn Williams took a win; Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Bahamians Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and Chandra Sturrup are through.
Shoes for fast guys the war of all times Puma vs Adidas
..... Berlin is hardly just about the shoes .... or is it ?
"Gay, who also counts McDonald’s, Alltel Wireless, Omega and Sega as sponsors, has been expected to bring in about $2M in endorsements and sponsorships this Olympic season."
Though just a quick look at the 100m in Berlin shows it's not Bolt vs Gay it's
Puma vs Adidas ...
Puma are #1 right now ... and where are Nike, Reebok and anyone else who wants their shoes to be faster than any other shoes on the planet? Not in the frame for a win in Berlin... thats a fact; so lets have a quick look at some of the fastest footwear on the planet .........
Bolt 10.20 : Gay 10.16 neither the Puma shod Bolt or the Adidas wearing Gay have made any effort yet in Berlin over 100m : so far by their own standards they've just turned up and gone for a stroll ... Though as Powell almost lost his slot by running a relaxed ending to a 10.38 Derrick Atkins is out after a 10.44.
The biggest showdown of the championships is on its way.... at last.
It is fair to say there has been some needle ahead of the showdown between the two heavyweights of the sprint game here this weekend.
Tyson Gay has been waiting all summer for his big chance to catch up with Usain Bolt on the track. The American will get the opportunity on Sunday evening in the 100 metres final at the world championships, provided he and the Jamaican phenomenon survive three rounds. Still, as both men took to the press conference stage yesterday to give their views on the "burn-up in Berlin", it transpired that they had met in Munich last week – at the clinic of the sports medicine man known for such cures as the injection of cell parts from the foetuses of calves.
World Athletics: IAAF intervenes to keep Asafa Powell in Jamaican team
International athletics chiefs have been forced to intervene to prevent another serious embarrassment for the sport in Berlin after Jamaica had threatened to kick three of the biggest stars of the World Championships, including former world 100 metres record holder Asafa Powell, out of their team.
The Jamaican Amateur Athletics Association, already beleaguered after a drugs controversy, had planned to ban six athletes including Powell, Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and Beijing 400m hurdles gold medallist Melaine Walker for disciplinary reasons after they failed to attend a pre-World Championship training camp in Nuremburg.
But on a chaotic day in Berlin, the JAAA backed down after the International Association of Athletics Federations, fearing the loss of marquee names, put pressure on Jamaican officials to change their mind because the world governing body felt the athletes' exclusion would reflect badly on the championship.
When he was asked to name a headline for next Monday's newspapers, the American had no hesitation what it would be - 'Tyson Gay shocks the world'.
The night before at 8.35pm 60,000 people will go silent in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin for what could one of the greatest 100m in history as Gay goes head-to-head against Usain Bolt.
What is often forgotten when all the plaudits are rightly sent the way of Bolt is that Gay has actually won a race in a quicker time than the Jamaican achieved with his 9.69s 100m world record in Beijing last summer.
Early in the summer of 2008 at the US Trials, Gay won in 9.68. It was not recorded in the history books because of a massive tailwind of 4.1 but it provided the speed merchant from Kentucky with enough confidence to know his body can take him to those levels. No athlete has been clocked winning a race quicker.
With seven women under 11 seconds this year the race to be the world's fastest woman promises to be one of the most absorbing events of the championships.
The Olympic 100m silver medallist Kerron Stewart appears to be the athlete with the stand out credentials having enjoyed an imperious year. The Jamaican has been defeated just twice over 100m this season and is on course to land a share of the $1m ÅF Golden League Jackpot with four wins out of four thus far in the series. Stewart's most impressive triumph came in Rome when she blitzed to victory in a stunning 10.75 - the fastest time in the event for nine years and a mark which elevated her to fifth on the all-time lists.
Stewart, however, has yet to land a senior global title and she will face the sternest of opposition. One of her two defeats this year came at the hands of her countrywoman Shelly-Ann Fraser and few would discount the diminutive Olympic champion. Fraser clocked an impressive season's best time of 10.88 to beat Stewart at the Jamaican championships and the 22-year-old was an impressive winner in Monaco - her last pre-Berlin outing - stopping the clock in 10.91.
Usain Bolt will bid for sprint glory in Berlin - in the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owens defied Adolf Hitler and the racist theory of Aryan supremacy.
Jamaican Bolt is set to be the star of the World Championships, the biggest athletics event held in this arena since the Nazis built it for the 1936 Olympics.
It was there that Owens won four gold medals - in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.
The USA team will honour Owens's historic exploits by wearing "JO" on their singlets during the Championships.
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) -- Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt will race chief rival Tyson Gay at Brussels on September 4, Gay's manager told Reuters on Wednesday.
"It will likely be a 100 (meters) but it is confirmed they will race," Mark Wetmore said in a telephone interview.
Discussions also are under way for the two to race in Zurich on August 28, Gay and Wetmore said in a separate teleconference with US reporters.
All the latest news from Southport Waterloo Athletics Club
SOUTHPORT Waterloo’s senior track & field athletes have enjoyed two consecutive years in Division 2 West of the Northern League; but reality struck home in the final match of this season at Blackpool on Sunday.
A fourth place finish meant relegation back to Division 3 next year!
After Round 3, three clubs - Southport Waterloo, Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton and St Helens Sutton - were each on nine League points which meant that whichever of the three finished lowest in the final match would be relegated, along with Manx Harriers.
This appears to have galvanised Liverpool Pembroke and St Helens to field strong teams in the final match and they proved well worth their place in Division 2.
Team USA ready to compete at World Championships in Berlin
INDIANAPOLIS - Reigning world champions Tyson Gay, Bernard Lagat, Allyson Felix, Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement, Michelle Perry, Reese Hoffa and Brad Walker will lead a potent Team USA roster at the 2009 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships. USA Track & Field on Tuesday announced the Team USA roster for the 12th edition of the Championships, which will be held August 15-23 in Berlin, Germany.
This will be the first time Team USA has returned to Berlin for a major international championship competition since the 1936 Olympic Games, where National Track & Field Hall of Famer Jesse Owens won gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.
"These World Championships are special to us for many reasons," said USATF CEO Doug Logan. "It is Team USA's chance to come back strong in the post-Olympic year, and it is an opportunity to honor the incredible legacy of the great Jesse Owens. We feel our team roster will represent the United States well on both counts."
Dwain Chambers to contest sprint double at World Championships
Dwain Chambers has been given two chances to get his ‘Project Bolt’ back on track after being selected in the 100 and 200 metres for next month’s World Championships in Berlin.
The 31-year-old European indoor champion, announced earlier this year that he would try and find a way to beat Jamaican Olympic champion Usain Bolt and vowed to find a "crack in his armour".
Chambers is one of 60 GB athletes who will travel to Germany after missing out on automatic selection after he was beaten in the 100m at the UK trials by Simeon Williamson.
He later withdrew from the 200m trial citing exhaustion, but remains the second fastest man in Britain this year with a 100m time of 10.06 sec and, though his best 200m time puts him only fourth in the GB rankings, he is a proven performer at major championships.
He also impressed at last month’s European Team Championships in Leiria, Portugal, where he doubled up to win the 100 and 200m.
