By Gary Smith and Glen Andrews (Action Sports) for World-Track
MANCHESTER — Olympic sprint double champion Usain Bolt shot from the block and got quicker with every step to win the 150m at the Bupa Manchester Games on Sunday.
The 22-year-old, after getting a bye into the finals, produced a world mark of 14.35 seconds on rare the straight away race to remove the previous record of 14.8 sec, set Italy’s Pietro Mennea in1983.
The 100/200m world record holder covered the first 100m in 9.90sseconds and was away from the entire field at the 30m mark, before pulling away with every stride to leave his challengers battling for the minor places.
"I didn’t came here to mess around," Bolt said after the race. "I always put in my best and I did that today again.
"I thought I would just go out there and run a good time. I’m not in the best shape and I still have a lot of work to do but I am getting there."
Bolt was only declared fit to run in Manchester last Monday after a car crash put his participation in doubts.
Great Britain’s Marlon Devonish finished a distant second in 15.07.
Bahamian Olympian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie easy out-classed the field on the women’s side – winning the event in 16.54 seconds.
Britain’s world and Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu was second in 17.10.
Earlier in the day Ethiopian long-distance legend Haile Gebrselassie and Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya won the BUPA Great Manchester Run (10km) races, but were unable to challenge the world records because of a strong winds.
Nonetheless, Gebrselassie accepted his win in 27:39 ahead of Ali Zaied of Libya (28:13) and Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid (28:36).
"Today it was wonderful in the first half but on the way back the wind was horrible.
"I wanted to run a world record but in the second half it proved too difficult."
Cheruiyot won the women’s race in 32:01 and felt she too was kind of robbed by the conditions.
"I broke clear after 4km and the race was not hard to win but the wind was so strong I couldn’t achieve the time I wanted," she said.
