Thaindian News

Berlin, Aug 21 (DPA) Usain Bolt’s hunger for world records continued at the world championships Thursday when he won the 200m title in a staggering 19.19 seconds.
The Jamaican star bettered the mark of 19.30 he set in the Olympic final in Beijing Aug 20, 2008, towering high above the rest of the field with the biggest winning margin ever over the distance.

Alonso Edwards of Panama trailed by .62 seconds in 19.81 seconds and Wallace Spearmon of the US was third like in 2007 in 19.85 seconds.

Bolt won the 100m world title Sunday in a stunning world record 9.58 seconds, shaving 11 hundredth of a second off his old mark, a feat he repeated Thursday.

Adding the Beijing races over 100m, 200m and 4×100m, Bolt has now won every major final he contested in world record time, an unique achievement.

Olympic champion Melanie Walker gave Jamaica further reason to cheer when she won the 400m hurdles just eight hundredth shy of the world record.

Walker ran away from her rivals on the home stretch and crossed the line in 52.42 seconds. Only Russian Yuliya Petchonkina was faster in her world record run of 53.34 seconds.

Former season leader Lashinda Demus of the US was second in 52.96 seconds and Josanne Lucas of Trinidad and Tobago took third in 53.20.

Local hope Ariane Friedrich faced Blanka Vlasic in an intriguing women’s high jump final and the decathlon was due to be completed way behind schedule after a seemingly endless pole vault session.

Trey Hardee of the US led with 7,306 points after eight events from Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kasyanov (7,124).

The 110m hurdles title quest of Cuban Dayron Robles, by contrast, ended when he limped off in the semis. The world record holder and Olympic champion from Cuba got over two hurdles before the pain denied him to go on.

However, Robles was in good company as holder Brad Walker did not show up for pole vault qualifying due to hip problems and British world record holder Paula Radcliffe withdrew from Sunday’s marathon because she is not 100 per cent in the wake of foot surgery.

In addition, Olympic pole vault champ Steve Hooker said he may not be competing in the final over hamstring problems despite qualifying with just one jump.

Kenenisa Bekele took a another step towards a first ever long distance double at the worlds when he won his 5,000m heat in 13:19.77 minutes. Bekele got an Olympic double last year and on Monday won a fourth straight 10,000m world title.

American holder Bernard Lagat also advanced and so did ex-world champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.

Two-time defending champion Allyson Felix of the US looked poised to break the Jamaican sprint dominance when she coasted to a 200m semi-final victory in 22.44 seconds. Compatriot Muna Lee also looked with her race win in 22.30.

Jamaican Olympic champion Veronica Campbell had 22.29 seconds with upset-minded Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of the Bahamas winning that heat in 22.24 seconds into Friday’s final.

Former tow-time world champion Dwight Phillips of the US led long jump qualifying with 8.44m, with world and Olympic champion Irving Saladino of Panama also through with 8.16m.