Usain Bolt ran his slowest ever 100M race, but was still good enough to beat the competition.
The Jamaican had predicted world record times this summer, but will need to go back to the drawing board after a less than impressive showing in the Golden Spike Meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic, finishing first in a time of 10.04 seconds, running into a -0.8 m/s headwind.
Not since 2009, when Bolt ran during a thunderstom in Toronto, has Bolt failed to break the 10 second barrier. In Toronto, Bolt ran 10 seconds flat.
Bolt failed to get a good start and laboured in the first 40 metres before closing out victory in the second half of the race. "I had a bad start and I had no feeling the whole race, Bolt told reporters after finishing first. " My legs felt kinda dead. I went out of the blocks badly and nothing came. The false start did not affect me that is no excuse. It was just a bad day. I'll have to get past it and look forward to the next one."
The Jamaican world record holder will next run in the Diamond League in Rome on Thursday. Kim Collins, who came in second, said the performance will keep Bolt's rivals interested. "The Powell's, Gay's and Blake's will be thinking, 'If Kim can be that close, I can do better," the 36-year old said. "But you have to understand that he is human. He can't run 9.5 every day and the days when he can't we are going to be running hard to try and beat him."
Bolt said his eyes were firmly planted on the Olympics in London. "I don't know what my rivals will think about it, but it's about the Olympics for me. It's about getting to the Olympics and doing my best there."
American LaShawn Merritt comfortably took gold in the 400 metres, beating out Luguelin Santos from Dominica. Merritt timed 45.13 for his first place finish. Oscar Pistorius finished over two seconds behind Merritt in eighth place.
