Usain Bolt matched the fastest time this year in the 100 metres when he clocked 9.82 seconds in winning at the Athletissima meet on Thursday on return from injury.
The race was specially created for Bolt after he pulled out of the 200 to spare his sore Achilles’ tendon in the Diamond League event.
He didn’t disappoint.
Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake was second in 9.96 and Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles was third in 10.16. Asafa Powell also clocked 9.82 on June 10 in Rome.
The two Jamaicans will meet in Paris next week, a race Bolt said he was looking forward to.
“It’s going to be something big,” Bolt said.
Bolt, the Olympic and world champion in the 100 and 200, said his Achilles’ was still “slightly” painful during the race.
Still, he beat his own expectations for a 9.88 finish and said he hopes to return to the 200 before the end of the season, provided his doctor says yes.
American Walter Dix, who was due to race Bolt in the 200, came first in that race with a time of 19.86 seconds. Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles had 20.08, while Xavier Carter of the United States finished third in 20.15.
“I was very disappointed Bolt was not running, but it feels good to be leading the Diamond League today,” Dix said after the race.
Fellow American Jeremy Wariner set a world season best in the 400 metres, winning in 44.57 seconds ahead of countryman Lajerald Betters who finished in 44.70. Jermaine Gonzales of Jamaica was third with 44.72.
Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles won the 110 metre race in 13.01 seconds. Ryan Wilson of the United States was second in 13.21, and countryman David Payne third in 13.22.
In the women’s 1,500 metres, Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka also set a world season best in 3 minutes, 59.28 seconds. Ibtissam Lakhouad of Morocco, who lost the race on the final metres, finished in 3-59.35. Kenyan Nancy Jebet Langat came third with 4-00.13.
On a sweltering, airless night in Lausanne, some athletes, including Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov, complained about the noise of the vuvuzela, which a handful of spectators adopted from the football World Cup.
