Jamaican sprint king signals injury return with 100m win
World record sprinter Usain Bolt returned from an achilles tendon injury with a clear win over seven rivals at the Diamond League meet yesterday. The Jamaican outran his 100 metres opponents comfortably, racing across the finish line in a time of 9.82 seconds.
Asked if he felt any pain during the run, Bolt replied: "Slightly."
But he quickly added that he "would not say it was painful, but that it takes time to heal."
Overall, the world champion who matched the best time this season assessed: "I was feeling extremely nice and good."
"It's getting better and the weather was warm so it was good," added the Olympic star, who won the loudest cheers at the stadium.
"I'm very happy because the weather helped me to run fast and Billie Jean brought me in the best conditions for the race, because I felt a bit asleep by the training," he said, referring to Michael Jackson's hit song.
Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake came second with 9.96s while Churandy Martina took third with 10.16s.
Bolt, the world record holder for 100 metres and 200 metres, had decided to run the shorter sprint instead of the 200 in order to avoid any new injury, the organisers of the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne had said ahead of the event. To accommodate Bolt, organiser Jacky Delapierre had obtained special approval from the IAAF to add the 100 metres event to the programme.
