 Usain Bolt of Jamaica crosses the finish line first in the men's 100 meters at the IAAF Pre-Championships Meeting in Daegu Stadium, Wednesday. / Korea Times |
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff reporter
Jamaica's Usain Bolt breezed through for the gold medal in his first 100-meter race of the season, while three South Korean athletes won silver medals at the international track and field tournament in Daegu, Wednesday.
Bolt, Olympic champion and world record holder, was the only sub-10 runner at the Daegu IAAF Pre-Championships Meeting, crossing the line in 9.86 seconds. He comfortably outran fellow Jamaican Michael Frater and Mike Rodgers of the United States, who clocked 10.15 and 10.18 seconds, respectively.
The time was well behind his world record of 9.58 seconds, but was still a tournament record, 0.08 second ahead of the 9.94 seconds set by Tyson Gay of the United States last year.
Three South Korean participants ended in the bottom of the nine-man race, with Yeo Ho-suah leading among them at 10.48 seconds, only 0.01 second shy of his personal best.
In the women's 100 meters, U.S. sprinter Carmelita Jeter topped the podium with 11.0 seconds, 0.05 second ahead of Olympic 200-meter winner Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica. Beijing Olympic silver medalist Sherone Simpson of Jamaica came third with 11.26 seconds.
Kim Duck-hyun in the men's triple jump joined the local hero trio of the night, along with Park Jae-myung in the men's javelin and Jung Soon-ok in the women's long jump competitions.
Kim, 25, the 2007 Worlds finalist, recorded 16.87 meters in his third hop-step-and-jump attempt, trailing only Randy Lewis of Grenada by 14 centimeters; 23 centimeters short of his national record set in June last year.
Park threw 80.11 meters, as Igor Janik of Poland won the title with 80.46 meters. Jung recorded 6.47 meters, outperformed only by Funmi Jimoh of the United States who hit 6.68 meters in the 12-woman competition.
At the $200,000 one-day tournament in 16 disciplines, winners of the 100 meters sprint and 110 meters hurdles earned $5,500 each, while other gold medalists received $4,000 in prize money.
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