Bolt fit and ready for 4 x 200m record bid at IAAF World Relays

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH his name on three of the four sprint world records that have a Jamaican flag attached to it, Usain 'Lightning' Bolt said he will be concentrating this weekend on the 4 x 200m at the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015 at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

Bolt, holder of the men's 100m and 200m as well as the men's 4 x 100m relay, was not here last year when the Jamaicans shattered the world 4 x 200m record. This time the 28-year-old is here and he confirmed that he would like nothing better than to complete a sweep of all four records.

At a press conference on Friday in the Flamingo Room of the Beach Towers at Atlantis, Paradise Island, attended by Bahamian stars Chris 'Fireman' Brown and Shaunae Miller as well as American sprinter Allison Felix and Great Britain's Richard Kilty, Bolt said he would like to concentrate on the 4 x 200m this weekend simply because it's an event that he has not had an opportunity to run in a long time.

"I'm just happy to competing at full strength. I've been training hard, putting in the work," Bolt said. "I've been looking forward to these relays because I enjoy it. It's one of my favourite things to do because track and field is an individual sport and anytime I get to run a relay, it's always fun to run.

"Me and my team-mates are going to put on a show. It's going to be good because my team lost to the US in the Penn Relays, so now it's like a showdown. So I'm looking forward to it."

Last year without Bolt, the Jamaican team of Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir, Jermaine Brown and Yohan Blake clocked 1min 18.63sec to set a new record in winning the gold from St Kitts and France. The US did not advance from the preliminaries.

At the Penn Relays last weekend, the Americans avenged their misfortunes as the team of Joe Morris, Maurice Mitchell, Ameer Webb and Wallace Spearmon pulled off victory in the 4 x 200m over the Jamaican team of Jermaine Brown, Rasheed Dwyer, Jason Livermore and O’Shane Bailey. Guyana came third and Nigeria fourth.

Bolt, who admitted that he is getting back into top form, said he will be running the 4 x 100m and the 4 x 200m but he is looking forward most to the latter as he goes after his fourth world record. He currently holds the world record of 9.58sec in the 100m, 19.19sec in the 200m and shares the 4 x 100m mark of 36.84sec with the team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake.

When asked if there is a possibility that he could go after the 4 x 400m record, Bolt quickly shrugged it off, noting that it's not something that he is thinking about now. "That would be a little too much for me," he stressed.

Comments

Tommy77 says...

Awesome!!!<img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg…" style="display:none"><img src="http://s05.flagcounter.com/mini/WUu/bg_…" style="display:none">

Posted 1 May 2015, 7:41 p.m. Suggest removal

John says...

Go Bahamas! GO!!!

Posted 1 May 2015, 10:11 p.m. Suggest removal

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

Paul Maynard was recently over heard saying: "We gonna soon see how well dese relay teams run in the dark of night. Lightning Bolt better light up dat stadium for real cause when the sun sets BEC sure ain't gonna do so!"

Posted 2 May 2015, 11:19 a.m. Suggest removal

Reality_Check says...

IAAF Officials required a functioning power redundancy plan for the event. If only our incompetent Christie-led government and BEC could do the same for our country!

Posted 4 May 2015, 10:13 a.m. Suggest removal

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