 From top, U.S. sprinter Darvis Patton lies on the track after dropping the baton in the men’s 4x100-meter relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, Sunday. It is the second straight baton botch for the U.S. team at the world championships following one that took place at the Berlin worlds in 2009. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, right, Yohan Blake, center, and Nesta Carter dance after winning the gold in the men’s 4x100-meter relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, Sunday. The Jamaican team clocked 37.04 seconds to set a new world record, the only one in the biennial event. / AP-Yonhap |
By Yoon Chul
DAEGU — The world’s fastest man did not disappoint.
Usain Bolt may have started out with a whimper by being disqualified in the men’s 100-meter final Aug. 28 in the 13th IAAF World Championships. But running as the last man for his nation’s team in the 4X 100-meter relay event, he ended with a bang.
Jamaican teammate Nesta Carter and Michale Frater got off to a great start as the first two men in the relay race. Then, Yohan Blake, the world’s 100-meter champion in Bolt’s absence, passed the baton to Bolt who crossed the finish line with a time of 37.04 seconds.
It is .06 seconds faster than the former world record that the Jamaican team set in 2008.
“For me, it was just to go out there fast. We did just that. I am proud of my team,” Bolt said.
“I am happy with myself. I enjoyed being the anchor.”
The 25-year-old expressed his jubilance by dancing with his teammates and briefly lifting up his singlet to show off his six-pack to a fully-seated Daegu Stadium.
Following Jamaica, France and St. Kitts and Nevis earned silver and bronze medals, clocking in at 38.20 and 38.49, respectively.
After his shocking disqualification last Sunday, Bolt showed glimpses of what he was able to achieve when he ran in the men’s 200-meter final Saturday. Although he didn’t break the record in his favorite event, Bolt finished the 200-meter race in the fourth-fastest time ever with determination.
The strongest contender, United States, met disaster again in the event failing to finish the race collapsing at the last changeover.
Just before Darvis Patton — the third runner of U.S. — passed the baton to Walter Dix in lane 4, he was seen colliding with Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of Great Britain, who was waiting in lane 3 as the last runner.
Dix didn’t have a chance to run the last stretch and by that time, Bolt was far out in the lead.
Bolt had run in the men’s 4x100 meter relay event in 2008 along with Carter, Frater and Powell. He however anchored for his team because the usual-last man, Asafa Powell, was out with an injury and he himself had a problem with his Achilles tendon.
“I had a little problem with my Achilles tendon. It was decided I would run the anchor. Yohan Blake ran a great bend. I am happy with that.”
New addition Blake also said : “We were feeling wonderful.”
But in the women’s 4x100-meter relay final, it was the American team beating out the new sprint powerhouse Jamaica. The U.S. team led by Carmelita Jeter beat Veronica Campbell-Brown’s Jamaican team retaining the America’s fame as the sprinting powerhouse.
The Americans came first at the last bend and Jeter — the anchor of the U.S. — ran away from Campbell-Brown’s trailing for gold clocking in at 41.56 seconds.
Jamaican women’s team set the new national record of 41.70 but it wasn’t enough to taste gold.
Ukraine shined with a bronze medal finishing at 42.51 seconds.
Meanwhile the Korean national team sprinters, Yeo Ho-suah, Cho Kyu-won, Kim Kuk-young and Lim Hee-nam set the new national record of 38.94 in Round 1
It is Korea’s fourth new national record in Daegu worlds.
But Koreans, which finished fifth in Heat 3, failed to advance to the final
“We are very happy, we are also very satisfied,” Kim said.
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