Ligthening Bolt casts magic spell over Manchester
By Duncan Mackay in Manchester
May 17 - Usain Bolt (pictured) proved that he has suffered no ill-effects from his car crash last month with a remarkable performance in the Bupa City Games in Manchester today.
The Jamaican triple Olympic champion scorched down a specially constructed track in Deansgate, in the heart of the city, to win the 150 metres in 14.35sec, the fastest time ever recorded for the event.
The distance may be one that is rarely contested but Bolt's performance was so incredible because it was achieved on a sterotypically Manchester day - wet, windy and cold.
Also it was came less than three weeks after the 22-year-old required a minor operation on his foot after he had been injured in an car crash involving his BMW.
Bolt surged out of the blocks near the AIG offices and crossed the line next to Royal Bank of Scotland.
He ran the last 100m in 8.72, nearly a second quicker than the world record of 9.69 he clocked when winning the Olympics in Beijing last year.
Hundreds of dedicated fans lined the side of the temporary track to catch a glimpse of Bolt and afterwards a group of Jamaican supporters sang their heroes name.
Confusion surrounds who holds the best time for 150m but it is generally accepted that the fastest belongs to the Italian Pietro Mennea, who ran 14.8 in 1983 on a curved track, although some statisticans claim that the 19.75 that American Tyson Gay ran on his way to winning the world 200m title in Osaka two years ago should be the benchmark.
Bolt, though, put all arguments to bed with this astonishing display of speed and he is now the fastest man over 100m, 150m and 200m.
He said: "It's one more [record] to add to the tally isn't it?
"It's my first major competition of the season so I was just happy to come out and run injury-free and run a good time."
Even more astonishingly he claimed to be only 70 per cent fit.
Bolt said: "I am not in the best of shape, I still have a lot of work to do.
"I have been on and off in my training but I am getting there.
"I just want to put some hard work in."
Britain's Marlon Devonish finished second in 15.07 but was in awe of Bolt's performance.
He told insidethegames: "It was outstanding.
"If he had maintained that [for another 50 metres] he would have run another 19.3 [his world record for 200m]."
In the women's race Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, from the Bahamas, ran 16.54 to beat Olympic 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu, who ran 17.10, the fastest ever recorded by a Briton and an encouraging performance for a runner whose strength lies over one lap.
Earlier, Ethiopia's world marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie comfortably won the Great Manchester Run, held over 10 kilometres, by 34 seconds in 27min 39sec, with Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot's winning the women's race.
More than 33,000 runners took part.
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