YOHAN BLAKE UPSET reigning Olympic champ Usain Bolt by winning the 200 metres in 19.80 seconds at the Jamaican Olympic Athletic Trials on Sunday, just two days after beating him in the 100 metres.
It was the latest clash between the two Jamaican stars ahead of the London Olympics, where Bolt’s supremacy in the sprinting world appears to be in danger.
Bolt finished second in 19.83 while Warren Weir also earned a ticket to the London Games by finishing third.
“I have been working hard and am seeing it paying off now,” Blake said.
“I was not surprised by the big win. I know what Bolt has to offer and I know he was not at 100 percent. I just tried to keep my form.”
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Blake had won his 200m semi-final in 19.93 seconds Saturday to set up another finals showdown with Bolt, who took his semi-final race in 20.26.
Blake produced his first upset of the weekend and one of the biggest in the sport this year by beating Bolt in Friday’s 100m final with a time of 9.75 seconds, becoming the fourth fastest man ever in the event.
Bolt, the 100m and 200m Olympic champ and world record holder, was second in 9.86 seconds after a poor start and Asafa Powell was third in 9.88 seconds.
“I can’t train for one person,” Bolt said Sunday. “No one was talking about Blake and see what he did.”
Bolt says he now has plenty to prove heading into the Olympics and vowed to come back from these defeats.
“I am the Olympic champion and I have to show the world I am the best,” Bolt said. “I will always make a comeback. It is not like I was blown away. I know what I need to do to get it right.”
Blake ran the world-leading time on Sunday in the 200m but he did not beat his personal best of 19.26 which he set in September 2011.
Neither Blake nor Bolt have committed to running both sprints in London, saying they will leave the decision up to their Jamaican coach Glen Mills.
- © AFP, 2012
