When Usain Bolt means business, he is still all alone out there.
Bolt coasted to his third straight 200-meter world title on Saturday with the race basically wrapped up as soon as he entered the finishing straight. Jamaican teammate Warren Weir never got close to Bolt's world leading time of 19.66s, but crossing .13 seconds later for silver still left him enough time to join Bolt in a reggae dance to Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds'.
"The energy was great tonight," Bolt said. "The crowd was in to it."
Curtis Mitchell of the United States took bronze in 20.24 seconds, but was never in the hunt for gold. Now Bolt will go for his fourth triple gold at a major championship when he joins the Jamaican team for the 4x100 relay on Sunday. "It should be even better," Bolt said.
The wealth of Jamaican sprinting is such that they might well sweep their American rivals in unprecedented fashion, after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce clinched a similar 100-200 double and has her final relay also late on the closing day of the championships.
Opposition could hardly touch Bolt on Saturday, and once it was clear his right foot was OK after he dropped a starting block on it early in the week, everything was as good as gold. Even his start was strong as he quickly gained a decisive edge. And then in the finishing straight, Bolt fully let loose his giant stride, the one that has dumbfounded rivals since he won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
One shy of Lewis, Johnson
His seventh world title leaves him one shy of American greats Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson, who lead the overall gold medal standings in the 30-year history of the event. On Sunday, Bolt can pull alongside them. And with 10 medals overall, Bolt can overtake Lewis at the top with two silvers compared to a silver and bronze for the American sprinter-long jumper.
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