Bolt Leaves It Late

Usain Bolt was far from his best, but he still got the job done, making a triumphant return to the track yesterday with a narrow victory in the men's 100 metres at the Rome Golden Gala meet.

The sprint king clocked 9.91 seconds during the third stop of the IAAF Diamond League, outlasting fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell by two hundredths of a second, with European champion Christophe Lemaitre of France finishing third in 10 seconds flat.

"I was nervous as it was my first race of the season, and I didn't think it went well and the nerves got to me," said Bolt. "In fact, it was a totally bad race, and I'm just pleased I won."

Yet, he finished two hundredths of a second outside of the season's best time of 9.89 set by compatriot Steve Mullings in Clermont, Florida, in the United States five days ago.

Slow out of the blocks

A crowd of roughly 47,000 came to see Bolt, showing off his new beefy physique, and running his first race for almost nine months.

In his previous race, Bolt was beaten by American Tyson Gay in Stockholm last August, ending his two-year unbeaten streak before cutting short his season because of back and Achilles tendon problems.

This time, he was slow out of the blocks, and Powell accelerated to take the lead in the middle of the race.

Bolt, however, began his charge midway through the race, gritting his teeth, and looking more ragged than normal, before closing in the final 20m to edge Powell.

Bolt has now beaten Powell in nine of their 10 meetings, with Powell's only win coming in Stockholm in 2008.

Former World champion Kim Collins of St Kitts & Nevis was fourth in a personal season's best time of 10.12, Trinidad & Tobago's Richard Thompson clocked 10.13 for fifth, Mario Forsythe of Jamaica came seventh in 10.21, and compatriot Lerone Clarke clocked a personal season's best of 10.31 for eighth in the field of nine.

In other events, Christopher Brown of The Bahamas was the only other Caribbean athlete to complete a victory. He ran a season's best time of 45.16 in the men's 400 metres.

Jermaine Gonzales of Jamaica was the runner-up in 45.43, also a season's best, with T&T's Renny Quow finishing fifth in 45.83.

Caribbean athletes had to settle for second and third, respectively, in the 200 metres, which were won by hometown boy Andrew Howe with a time of 20.31 in the men's race, and Bianca Knight of the United States in the women's event.

Jamaican Marvin Anderson was runner-up to Howe in the men's race with a time of 20.49, and T&T's Rondell Sorillo was third in 20.68, with T&T's Emmanuel Callender sixth in 20.99.

Kerron second

Kerron Stewart, another Jamaican, was runner-up to Knight in the women's event with a season's best 22.64, and the evergreen Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of The Bahamas came third in 22.76.

St Lucia's Levern Spencer cleared 1.92 metres to finish second in the women's high jump behind Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, whose 1.95m was a season's best height.

Elsewhere, Jehue Gordon of T&T ran a 2011 best of 49.09 in the men's 400 hurdles, but was only good enough for fifth; Jamaican Shericka Williams ran a disappointing 51.53 for seventh in the women's 400; and Leevan Sands of The Bahamas did 17.13m, his best for the year, but ended up fourth in the men's triple jump.

Rome results

Selected results from yesterday's Diamond League track and field meet in Rome:

MEN

100m: (wind: +0.6 m/s) 1. Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.91 seconds, 2. Asafa Powell (Jam) 9.93, 3. Chris Lemaitre (Fra) 10.00, 4. Kim Collins (SKN) 10.12. 7. Mario Forsythe (Jam) 10.21, 8. Lerone Clare (Jam) 10.31.200m: 1. Andrew Howe (Ita) 20.31, 2. Marvin Anderson (Jam) 20.49, 3. Rondel Sorillo (Tri) 20.68, 4. Shawn Crawford (USA) 20.82.400m: 1. Chris Brown (Bah) 45.16, 2. Jermaine Gonzales (Jam) 45.43, 3. Jonathan Borlee (Bel) 45.53, 4. Greg Nizon (USA) 45.62.400m hurdles: 1. L.J. van Zyl (RSA) 47.91, 2. David Green (GBR) 48.24, 3. Angelo Taylor (USA) 48.66, 4. Javier Culson (Pur) 48.86, 5. Jehue Gordon (Trin) 49.09.4x100m: 1. Canada 38.65, 2. Italy 38.89, 3. Germany 39.09, 4. Poland 39.24.

Women

200m: 1. Bianca Knight (USA) 22.64, 2. Kerron Stewart (Jam) 22.74, 3. Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (Bah) 22.76, 4. Allyson Felix (USA) 22.81.400m: 1. Allyson Felix (USA) 49.81, 2. Amantle Montsho (Bot) 50.47, 3. Francena McCorory (USA) 50.70, 4. Debbie Dunn (USA) 50.79. 7. Shericka Williams (Jam) 51.53.100m hurdles: 1. Dawn Harper (USA) 12.70, 2. Kellie Wells (USA) 12.73, 3. Danielle Carruthers (USA) 12.80, 4. Lisa Urech 12.84.