DOUBLE sprint world record-holder Usain Bolt cruised to a world leading 19.86 seconds to win his season opening 200m race yesterday at the Bislet Games, the fifth stop on the IAAF Diamond League series.
Over 47,000 fans braved rainy, cool weather at the Bislet stadium in Oslo, Norway as Bolt won easily to beat compatriot Nickel Ashmeade's 19.95 seconds set at the Jamaica National Jamaica International invitational in early May.
Bolt's Racers Track Club training partner Mario Forsythe was third in 20.49 seconds, just behind Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure in 20.43 seconds.
The world and Olympic champion came off the bend just ahead of the field, but continued to increase his margin, easing through the tape in his first half-lap event in 13 months and extending his unbeaten run from 2007.
Meanwhile, despite just failing to catch American Aries Merritt on the line, Dwight Thomas lowered his national record in the 110m hurdles to 13.15 seconds, chipping .01 second off the time he set two years ago in Zurich.
After a slow start, Thomas made up ground in the middle of the race to pass training partner Joel Brown and Andy Turner, but just failed to rein in the American, who ran a season's best 13.12 seconds. Brown was third in a season's best 13.20 seconds.
Thomas has shown signs he was close to his best earlier this season after running 13.18 seconds in Holland late last month.
Despite his new national mark, Thomas slipped one place to fifth fastest in the world, switching places with Merritt and behind American David Oliver, 12.94 seconds, China's Liu Xiang, 13.00 and Cuba's world record-holder Dayron Robles, 13.07.
Novlene Williams Mills ran her first 400m race since May 14, finishing third in a decent 51.17 seconds behind Botswana's Amantle Montsho's season best 50.10 seconds and Czech Republic's Denisa Scerbova-Rosolova, 51.04.
Williams Mills, who is a training partner of Thomas at their Orlando, Florida base, had failed to finish a race in Ponce, Puerto Rico in May after feeling a cramp.
Vonette Dixon was a close fourth in the women's 100m hurdles final in 13.07 seconds after finishing second in the qualifying heats in 13.20 seconds earlier.
Nickesha Wilson ran a season's best 56.01 seconds for fifth in the 400m hurdles, achieving the B standard for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea later this year.
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