IF USAIN BOLT’S disqualification from the final of the men’s 100m cast a shadow over the opening days of the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, his dominant performance in the final of that other showcase event, the 200m, will go a long way towards redeeming the meet in the eyes of the public.
Even without taking the curvature of the track into account, the Jamaican had passed his nearest challenger, American Walter Dix, within the first hundred metres. As the lanes evened out into the home straight, the world record holder found himself with a lead of several metres over Dix and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre.
Bolt crossed the line to record a time of 19.42sec and immediately set about responding to those who had questioned his seriousness in recent days by posing with the track mascot and playfully trying to escape an onrushing horde of media personnel and photographers.
Lemaitre, the bronze medallist, bit a significant chunk off personal best to record a national record of 19.80sec.
