media_artricles :: 2013

Bolt, James sizzle at Paris Diamond League

Usain Bolt ran the fastest 200 metres of the season yesterday with a time of 19.73 seconds at the Areva Diamond Leauge meet in Paris.

Bolt shaved 0.01 seconds off the previous best time of 2013, set by American sprinter Tyson Gay at the US trials last month.

Fellow Jamaican Warren Weir was second in 19.92, ahead of former European champion Christophe Lemaitre in 20.07.

Bolt will next compete in the 100 and 4x100 relay in London on July 26-27 in a one-year anniversary event for the 2012 Olympics. That will be his final major meeting before the world championships, which start August 10.

In other events at Areva, the ninth leg in the Diamond League circuit, Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada clocked a world-leading 43.96 in the men’s 400, beating Americans LaShawn Merritt (44.09) and Tony McQuay (44.84).

“Today in comparison with previous races, I had a little bit better first 200,” James said. “You need to always pay attention to runners like LaShawn. If he would be too far ahead, it would be tough to beat him.”

James caught Merritt in the backstretch before running away on the final straight.

“I could have done better,” Merritt said. “Some parts of my race were slower than they should be. But I will correct it. To win in Moscow, I need to use my speed. That is the key.”

Merritt won gold at the 2008 Olympics and the world title in 2009 before a 21-month suspension for failing a doping test.

Three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia ran 14:23.68 in the women’s 5,000, also a world-leading time this season.

In the women’s 100, Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce held off a late charge from Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria to win by one hundredth of a second in 10.92. US champion English Gardner finished a distant fifth in 11.13.

World record-holder Aries Merritt of the United States led from start to finish to win the men’s 110 hurdles in 13.09. Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde came in second in 13.12, edging American hurdler David Oliver (13.13).

Olympic champion Anna Chicherova of Russia leaped 2.01 at her first attempt to take the women’s high jump, three centimetres higher than US champion Brigetta Barrett, who was second, and former world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia in third.

The next leg Diamond League meet is in Monaco on July 19.

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