Jamaica finished first and second in the men’s 200m race at the Moscow World Championships yesterday. For the third time in as many Championships, Usain Bolt struck gold in the event, this time clocking 19.66secs ahead of his training partner Warren Weir, who improved his hardware to silver by equaling his personal best (PB) of 19.79.
Another Jamaican, Nickel Ashmeade, was nipped at the line by his training partner Curtis Mitchell of the US by 1/100 of a second. Mitchell posted 20.04 to Ashmeade’s 20.05 and denied Jamaica a clean-sweep repeat of last year’s Olympic performance, when Bolt, Yohan Blake and Weir took gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
Blake, who has been sitting out the season since May as a result of a hamstring injury he sustained at the Jamaica International Invitation meet that month, travelled to Moscow to watch the Games.
Bolt has become the first man to win a third consecutive World 200m title. The American pair of Michael Johnson and Calvin Smith won the event twice. He also became the first man to win the 100m and 200m double on two occasions. He now has five individual World Championship gold medals.