WORLD and Olympic champion Usain Bolt will compete at next weekend’s JAAA National Senior Championships that will be held between Thursday and Sunday at the National Stadium.Multiple sources told the Sunday Observer that Bolt will contest the men’s 100m that will be run between Thursday and Friday with the final set for 9:15 Friday night.
His inclusion in the event could set up a mouthwatering final that could see Bolt, Asafa Powell, former World Championships gold medallist Yohan Blake, bronze medallist at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow two years ago Nesta Carter, Nickel Ashmeade and the up-and-coming pair of Julian Forte and Andrew Fisher.
Bolt is the defending champion in both the 100m and 200m at the World Championships after winning the double two years ago in Moscow, Russia, and has a bye to the event, but opted to compete at the four-day championship after a string of slow times. His latest below-par effort being a 20.29 seconds clocking in the 200m at last weekend’s IAAF Diamond League meet in New York.
Bolt holds the 200m record of 19.19 seconds.
After his run Bolt, who took most of last year off, was at a loss as to what had caused his slow times and had suggested that he would have to run more races to get himself back into top form, thus his decision to run at Trials.
He might have dropped an even more obvious hint at the pre-race press conference in Manhattan last Friday when he told the media that “one-off races” such as the ones on the circuit would not be beneficial to him to get him into top form.
At Trials, Bolt will race three times in over two days — the quarter-finals at 6:55 pm on Thursday and semis-finals at 7:10 pm Friday, two hours before the final is scheduled.