Usain Bolt (left) and Warren Weir celebrate after finishing one-two in the men's 200m at the World Championships yesterday.
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André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
MOSCOW, Russia:
It seems that the world's fastest man is not slowing down any time soon. Alpha male Usain Bolt continues to dominate his sport, and after becoming the first man to win sprint doubles at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, and the first to win three 200m titles in a reign of consecutive wins that started at the 2009 championships in Berlin, Bolt has already extended his scope to his 2016 Rio Olympics swansong.
Bolt, who also won the sprint double four years ago in Berlin, though not in great shape, was too good for the field, winning the men's 200m final in a world-leading time of 19.66 - his best time since last year's Olympics - in front of a near-capacity Luzhniki Stadium.
Weir equals personal best
Warren Weir secured a Jamaican one-two after powering his way to the silver medal in a personal best equalling 19.79 seconds clocking, with the United States' Curtis Mitchell, 20.04, taking the bronze medal just ahead of another Jamaican, Nickel Ashmeade, 20.05.
The double swoop sent Jamaica shooting up the medal table into third position with seven medals - four gold, two silver and one bronze - as the sprint relay teams get ready to bring the tally in line with the nine medals won at the 2011 Daegu championships.
"I have two more championships to go (2015 World Championships in Beijing and 2016 Olympic Games), so I will focus on those. I think it matters when you dominate when you compete at championships, so my focus is to try and do what I do best, to stay injury free throughout the seasons and continue dominating," said Bolt.
"I know people look forward to me coming and dominating, and I look forward to it myself. My focus is to do well and win, and that's what I do," Bolt added.
Weir, who upgraded the bronze medal he won a year ago at the Olympic Games, underlined that it meant a bit more to him this time around, having handled the greater expectations that accompanied him here.
"This one was even sweeter, to know that I came out here and people were expecting a lot from me. In London, a lot of people didn't expect me to medal until maybe the finals, but it feels good to come here and get the medal," said Weir.
"I just continued to be myself," Weir added. "A lot more personswere expecting a lot from me, but I wasn't going to allow the extra expectations to get to me too much, I just shook it, continued to be myself and stuck to my normal routine."
There was less success for the female sprint hurdlers, as none of Andrea Bliss and sisters Shermaine and Danielle Williams managed to make it past the semi-finals.
Bliss, 32, is the most experienced among the lot, having represented Jamaica at the senior level for over eight years.
Coming into the championships after posting a personal best of 12.82 earlier this year, and full of confidence after years of struggles, Bliss finished fifth in 12.92 in her semi-final.
Shermaine was the better of the Williams sisters yesterday, taking fourth in her semi-final with a time of 12.93, while Danielle had to settle for 13.13 and sixth place in her race.
Jamaica will look to match its nine-medal tally from the 2011 Daegu World Championships when the sprinters line up in the women's (7:15 a.m. Jamaica time) and men's (7:50 a.m.) and 4x100m relay heats today.
The finals are set for 9:10 a.m. (women's) and 9:40 a.m. (men's).
