Usain Bolt shatters 100m world record

Usain Bolt scaled fresh heights in the 100m yesterday when he destroyed a top-quality field at the athletics World Championships in Berlin to win in 9.58 seconds, a new world record. American Tyson Gay claimed silver in 9.71 seconds, a new US record, while Bolt's fellow countryman Asafa Powell took bronze with 9.84 seconds.

After a relatively slow start, the Jamaican sprinter took the lead on 30m and never looked back, inspiring the field behind him to such an extent that the top five all ran under 10 seconds and Briton Dwain Chambers in sixth equalled that time. Bolt's new record shaved a staggering tenth of a second off his previous mark, set at last year's Olympics.

Bolt is now targetting the 200m later this week, and few will be betting against him threatening the record that he set in that event last year as well, and with Bolt and Powell set to race together for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay, it looks like the Caribbean island could be celebrating a clean sweep of the men's sprinting events.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Ian Chadband, Daily Telegraph: "And so much for the feverishly-hyped 'grossen duell'. How must Tyson Gay, America’s reigning champion, have felt? In what was supposed to be a two-horse race, in the lane outside Bolt he got off to the better start and recorded the third fastest time in history, 9.71sec, yet still found himself passed by Bolt as if Nijinsky was cruising past a selling plater. All credit to the magnanimous Gay. He understood his part in history. 'I’ve been telling you Usain can run that fast and I’m really happy he did it. He’s so hot, he took it to another level.'"

Neil Wilson, Daily Mail: "One year to the day since he awed the world in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing with a time of 9.69sec came the greatest improvement since record-keeping began 96 years ago. Not since Bob Beamon smashed the world long jump record at the Mexico Olympics of 1968 has a single performance so completely changed perceptions of human capabilities."

Anna Kessel, the Guardian: "Just before he stepped into the blocks, Usain Bolt made a sign of intent. A single swoop of the arm, mimicking a bird or a plane. Or superman. Bolt, the 22-year-old world record breaker, last night rocked the globe once more, lowering his own record by a massive 0.11 of a second. All that talk of a slow track, dismissed in just 9.58 seconds; you had to rub your eyes to believe it. Beating his chest as he crossed the line, this time there was no showboating, only seriously fast sprinting from the Jamaican star."

Owen Slot, the Times: "And so finally we have an answer. Still electrifying, still like another a man from another planet. But now we know how fast the man can really go. Usain Bolt laid waste last night to the world record he set exactly one year ago at the Beijing Olympics. The history of the world 100 metres record shows that the mark has been whittled down over the years in incremental improvements, but in the Olympic Stadium last night, it was annihilated by the Jamaican." ·