Jun 1, 2008, 7:58 GMT
New York - Usain Bolt ran a 100 metres world record of 9.72 seconds on Saturday night at the Reebok Meet in New York, bettering the mark of fellow-Jamaican Asafa Powell.
Bolt defeated world champion Tyson Gay of the US in the race as he shaved two hundredth of a second off Powell's mark of 9.74 seconds from September 9, 2007, in Rieti, Italy.
The 21-year-old Bolt was helped by a legal tailwind of 1.7 metres per second.
'I wasn't looking for a world record but it was there for the taking so I just went out there and ran my best race,' said Bolt, naming his race '99 per cent perfect.'
Bolt won a 200m silver at the 2007 worlds behind Gay and added the 100m this year to his agenda to improve his 200m start. The move has paid off well as he made his presence felt with 9.76 seconds four weeks ago.
'I knew if I could beat Tyson out of the blocks, I could win the race,' he said Saturday.
Bolt is reportedly still undecided whether to move permanently to the 100m, do both sprints or remain on the 200m. He needs to decide on his 2008 agenda by the time of the Jamaican Olympic trials in late June.
With little more than two left until the Beijing Games, Bolt said the record was not worth anything without a major title.
'The world record means nothing without gold medals in the world championships or the Olympics. If you are the Olympic champion, they have to wait four years to try to beat you,' he said.
The Olympic sprint was supposed to see another duel between Gay and Powell but it now appears a three-man race.
Gay would like to add Olympic gold to the world title while Powell or Bolt could finally give the proud sprint nation of Jamaica its first Olympic 100m title (men and women).
The triple world champion Gay missed his personal best by one hundredth on Saturday as he ran a season-best 9.85 seconds, a result he rated 'ahead of schedule' with the US Olympic trials also set for late June and early July.
Powell ran 10.04 in January but due to an injury setback won't compete until the Jamaican Olympic trials. He is then due to run against Gay in July in London.
Gay said that Bolt had one distinct advantage over him in Saturday's race.
'We were on the same rhythm, but his stride was covering more ground. He's run 9.7 before, his body knows what it feels like,' said Gay.
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