Usain, 'Ver' fly Jamaica flag high »

Usain, 'Ver' fly Jamaica flag high

LONDON (CMC):

SPRINT MARVEL Usain Bolt, of Jamaica, as well as female compatriots Veronica Campbell-Brown and Melaine Walker headlined the performances on the second and final day of the London Grand Prix yesterday. World 100 metres record holder Bolt ran the fastest 200 metres in Britain when he clocked 19.76 seconds, while Campbell-Brown ran a sizzling 10.87 to win the 100 dash and finish two hundredths of a second outside of her lifetime best.

Meanwhile, Walker signalled her form with another solid win in the women's 400m hurdles.

Bolt covered the field, including 2006 World Champion-ship bronze medallist Wallace Spearmon of the United States for the second fastest time in the world this year, behind his own 19.67, and smashed the stadium record held by Tyson Gay of the United States by eight hundredths of a second. The giant Jamaican started strongly, and ran the bend superbly before extending down the straight to pull away comfortably from the opposition.

He even had time to ease up in the last 20m and look across at the crowd, before he crossed the line as relaxed as a man on a training run, leaving Spearmon to take second in 20.27 with Ireland's Paul Hession third a tenth slower.

"It was pretty good," said Bolt. "I came out here with a plan and I executed it. No doubt my coach will tell me what I did wrong. "I think I could do well in both the 100m and 200m at the Olympics. But my coach hasn't made a bad decision in five years, so if he says I should only do one, I'll only do one. I just came here to work on my 200m and I did that. I'm looking for consistency and to do what my coach says. I'm managing to do that right now."

Campbell-Brown gave the strong Jamaican presence in the crowd another reason to cheer when she prevailed over a high-quality field. This was her best legal time of the year, following a windy 10.85 in Greece earlier this month. Campbell-Brown started well, got away from compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser in the lane next to her before holding her form to the line, and give the selectors of the Jamaica national team a strong reason to allow her to run the 100 at the Olympics.

"Running so close to my PB (personal best) is great," said Campbell-Brown. "I'm happy to win against such a great field, and I am happy to run such a great time as well. I'm in a great position to defend my 200m title.

"As for the 100m, that's up to the selectors. I accept that I was fourth at the Jamaica national trials. That's just part of life."

Fraser was second in 10.95 with Marshevet Hooker holding off fellow American Torri Edwards for third in 11.07. Walker won the women's 400m hurdles in 54.22, just 0.04s outside her best of the year, while fellow Jamaican Shevon Stoddart finished seventh in 56.28. Trinidad and Tobago-born Kerron Clement of the US won the men's in 48.36 with Markino Buckley of Jamaica third in 49.18 behind Britain's Richard Yates.

Another national record went in the last event, as a T&T's men's 4x100m quartet of Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong and Richard Thompson ran 38 seconds flat for second behind a US team, whose 37.80 was a stadium record. There was one tinge of disappointment for the Jamaicans when Brigitte Foster-Hylton finished fourth in the women's 100 hurdles in a time of 12.67.

• Related Stories

  • IAAF urges Jamaica to step up doping tests
  • Sprint fest at stadium - Plethora of stars to blaze track at Jamaica International Invitational
  • Beijing Games may be 'Ver's' last
  • Chest injury healing, Jamaica's Powell back on track
  • Jamaicans shine on US collegiate circuit

• Videos

  • 200m Gold
  • 400m Silver
  • 9.72: Usain Bolt 100 meters world record
  • Analysis - Olympic 100m Finals
  • Analysis - Whats to come?
  • Asafa and Thompson Interview
  • Asafa Powell - 9.74s - 100m
  • Asafa's arrrival in Beijing
  • Beijing Interviews
  • Blazing Berlin