By Gary Smith, World-Track
KINGSTON, Jamaica —
There are no major championships scheduled for next year, but Usain Bolt’s coach Glen Mills says the Jamaican will still be "as sharp as ever."
Bolt, the world and Olympic triple gold medallist and world record holder over the 100m and 200m will be one of the star attractions at next year’s IAAF Diamond League, which replaced the current Golden League and Mills said the sprinter will again be in top shape.
"We still have to prepare to run in the Diamond League and other meets on the circuit so we will be as sharp as ever," Mills said in the Jamaica Gleaner.
Bolt was forced to gut his season short by two weeks this year because of fatigue, and Mills said this was a result of a car accident he was involved in earlier this year.
"It affected his background that is why he is suffering from fatigue now," the veteran coach explained.
"But it did not hamper the speed preparation because after two weeks, he was back training but he could only train on the straight."
The 23-year-old shattered his own 100m and 200m world records at the worlds in Berlin last month — running 9.58seconds for the 100m and 19.19seconds for the 200m to beat both his previous time by 0.11seconds.
There were many who were left stunned by his performances, but Mills, who said days before the championships that his pupil was in the shape to do something special in Berlin, was not one of them.
"It’s fantastic what the young man can do and I think he has potential to do even more," the coach said. "It was clear from last year that he could have gone faster than 9.69 seconds.
"(This year) … even in the meets that he ran on the circuit in the rain and cold, he was clocking 9.79 and 9.77. It was a clear indication that given the conditions that we got in Germany, he was going to run very fast.
"In the preparations, he was well ahead of the training time and the effort he was putting in indicated that he was going to run very fast."
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