Oslo: Usain Bolt made it three out of three on his European tour of 100m outings with a thrilling victory over Jamaican teammate Asafa Powell in the Diamond League meeting here. Other stand-out performances came from Australian world champion Sally Pearson over the women’s 100m hurdles and Kenyan Milcah Chemos, who ran the fourth fastest time ever in the 3000m steeplechase.
After a sun-kissed opening two hours of competition on Thursday, the temperatures dropped for the Bolt v Powell duel, but the Jamaicans did not let the capacity crowd at the Bislett Stadium down.
Teeth gritted and long legs pumping, Bolt screamed through the finish line in 9.79 seconds, Powell notching up his 77th sub-10sec 100m in 9.85sec. The 25-year-old reigning double Olympic sprint champion left it late in the race to reel in Powell, the former world record holder who was left wondering what he has to do to improve on his 11-1 losing record against Bolt. “I really enjoyed it!” beamed Bolt. “My execution was alright. I’m going home now to top things up. “I’ll look to go fast and look forward to the trials.” Powell added: “It was an awesome race. I was there until 85 metres then my legs tired. “Usain is a lot stronger at the end so that was it. But it’s good to go to the trials with such a fast time. It brings me confidence.” In the 100m hurdles, Pearson equalled her own world leading time of 12.49sec, overcoming a false start by British heptathlete Jessica Ennis to power home 0.07sec ahead of American Kristi Castlin, with US-born Briton Tiffany Porter taking third (12.70). Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, the reigning Olympic 5000 and 10,000m champion who is battling to rediscover his world-beating form after injury, sat back in the field of the 5,000m until the bell rang for the last lap. But he had left himself far too much to do, finishing fifth, with compatriot Dejen Gebremeskel taking the honours in 12:58.92. (AFP)
