SIZZLING VCB!

Jamaican superstar sprinter Usain Bolt made heavy weather of an easy task, but still did enough to capture the 100 metres at the Golden Spike meeting yesterday and racked up his second successive win of the international season.

Veronica Campbell-Brown, meanwhile, kept Jamaica in the spotlight with her triumph in the women's 100 metres in a personal best and world-leading time of 10.76 seconds.

However, the 24-year-old World and Olympic champion, Bolt, was forced to extend himself over the last 40 metres, to beat fellow Jamaican Steve Mullings in the feature event in the historic Czech city.

He clocked 9.91 seconds to equal the time he posted in his season-opener at the Rome Diamond League last week, with Mullings running out of steam at the finish in a time of 9.97 seconds.

"I felt better in this race and that's a good sign, like I'm actually running again, so that's a really good sign," Bolt said.

"I had a good first 50 metres and as long as I get to 50 metres first, I'm not going to let you pass me."

Bolt was away from the blocks slowly as Mullings led early on, but the world record-holder in the 100 and 200 metres produced his trademark fast finish to cross the line first.

The outing was only Bolt's second for the season and came on the heels of a near nine-month break, after he ended his campaign prematurely last August.

"I think people are expecting me to run extremely fast, but you need to remember that this is only my second race in nine or 10 months," he reminded.

"I can't just come out and run 9.8 or 9.7. It's just not going to happen. I'm probably not going to start running fast until late July."

Antigua and Barbuda's Daniel Bailey was third in 10.08 seconds, with St Kitts and Nevis' Kim Collins fourth in 10.09.

powered away

Campbell-Brown powered away from her rivals at the halfway mark to reach the finish ahead of veteran Bahamian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (11.09) and Jamaican Schillonie Calvert, who was third in 11.13 seconds.

"It (time) was a surprise. My goal was to run faster than 10.92. So this was a surprise," Campbell-Brown told reporters.

With her latest time, the Olympic 200-metre champion equalled American Evelyn Ashford as the eighth-fastest woman in history.

In the men's 200 metres, meanwhile, Marvin Anderson clocked 20.27 seconds to lead a Jamaican sweep of the top three positions.

Yohan Blake was second in 20.28 seconds, with Mario Forsythe third in 20.43.

Jermaine Gonzales sustained Jamaica's winning tone when he stormed to victory in the men's 400 metres, posting 45.07 seconds.

Olympic relay silver medallist, Bahamian Chris Brown, trailed in second in 45.17 seconds, while American Jordan Boase was third in 45.34.

Olympic sprint hurdles cham-pion, Dayron Robles of Cuba, also cruised to victory, clocking 13.14 second to get home easily with World champion Ryan Brathwaite, who was never in contention, taking a tumble at the end.

Jamaican Dwight Thomas chased down Robles to finish second in 13.24, while American Terrence Trammell was third with a season-best 13.30.