Redemption: Bolt rules Oslo
Usain Bolt bounced back from a rare defeat with a track record at the Bislett Games on Thursday in his debut 200 meters of the season.
“I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was,” Bolt said.
Bolt, who lost the 100 metres by one hundredth of a second in Rome the week before, answered concerns about his condition by finishing in 19.79 seconds, the fastest long sprint run by anyone this season.
“Overall it was a good run, I can’t complain. It’s sub 20,” said the Jamaican, who holds the world record at the distance in 19.19. “I could have done better. I think I need to work on my corners but otherwise it was a good race.”
Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure finished second with a season best 20.36 seconds, with James Ellington of Britain third in 20.55.
“I knew (Ndure) was going to make sure I ran the corner pretty hard so it was good to have somebody in the mix that runs fast, because it helps for you to push yourself.”
Bolt finished three hundredths of a second quicker than Frank Fredericks of Namibia did in 1996 to set the new Bislett record.
The Jamaican is the only athlete to break the 20 second mark over 200 metres this season.
After losing to American Justin Gatlin in Rome last week, Bolt didn’t even let a false start from European 200 champion Churandy Martina of the Netherlands put him off. Martina was disqualified and Bolt powered on regardless at the second attempt, finishing strongly in lane six to leave the crowd on its feet.
“It’s always good to have someone directly in front of you,” said Bolt of Martina, who had been in lane seven. “It helps to push you harder to get past them on the corner. But you have to learn. This is always good, a learning curve. If it happens in the world championships, then it’s already happened here so you know how to deal with it.”
Bolt was disqualified for a false start at the 2011 world championships.
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