Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt secured a classy win for his All-Stars team with two impressive runs on the final night of the inaugural Nitro Athletics and declared the new format exactly what track and field needs.
After restricting himself to a leg of the mixed 4x100m relay on each of the first two nights at Melbourne’s packed Lakeside Stadium, the world’s fastest man contested the 150m, winning convincingly.
Bolt was clearly fastest out of the blocks and around the bend to quickly establish a lead of over 10 metres mid-race, before easing up in the closing stages.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been fit in February,” Bolt told reporters.
“I’m happy I got to run an individual event, I felt good, and I have to try to stay injury free.
“I’ve got a couple of months to go (until the world championships) and I should be fine.”
The 30-year-old Jamaican star clocked a time of 15.28 seconds, less than a second slower than the world record of 14.35 he set over the distance in Manchester in 2009. His world record for 200m, also set in 2009 in Berlin, is 19.19 seconds.
New Zealand’s Joseph Miller finished strongly in 15.44 seconds with Confidence Lawson of England third in 15.69.
Some 45 minutes later, Bolt again ran the second leg of the mixed 4x100m relay, helping his All Stars take out the final event of the night, as they had at the previous two Nitro meets last Saturday and Thursday.
