Bolt beaten!

STOCKHOLM, (Reuters) – Tyson Gay handed world and  Olympic champion Usain Bolt his first defeat in 15 100m finals at the Diamond League yesterday.

With the two fastest men in the world facing each other  down, Gay emerged victorious in a stadium-record time of 9.84  with Bolt second in 9.97.

Gay told reporters: “I know Usain Bolt is not in his best  shape, but I’m still happy with the victory.

“My body worked well today, I was excited and motivated. The  start was OK but I must admit I was surprised not seeing Usain  in front after half the race.”

Bolt said: “It was an alright performance, it wasn’t one of  my best. I need to work on my strength, my strength is really  low. It let me down in the first 30 metres and Tyson was in the  better shape so he won the race.”

Bolt, who has been troubled by an Achilles injury, has said  he is treating this year as an “off year.”

Organisers had hoped for a repeat of last year’s world  championship final only for ex-world record holder Asafa Powell  to pull out earlier this week with a back injury.

HEEL INJURY
In other top-flight action, Sweden’s ace triple jumper  Christian Olsson showed welcome signs of a return to form after  a heel injury which kept him out of last week’s European championships in Barcelona.

Former world and Olympic champion, Olsson was delighted with  his second place to Teddy Tamgho of France and a season-best of  17.32.

He told Reuters: “Second place, four centimetre behind  number one. He’s probably number one in the world even though he  didn’t win the European championship. I must be pleased with  that.”

Croatia’s European high jump champion Blanka Vlasic defied  fatigue to claim her fifth straight Diamond League victory over  Chaunte Lowe of the U.S. who had to be content with second  again.

“I was so empty after the Europeans,” said Vlasic. “I  expected to be more fresh but I guess I wasted too much energy.”  Local favourite and European silver medallist Emma Green came  third.
American sprinter Allyson Felix was critical of her own  performance, despite winning the women’s 200m. The world  champion told Reuters: “It didn’t go as well as I would have  wanted it to, I wanted to execute a little better.

“I think I floated coming off the curve and I just didn’t  execute the last 100.”

Dariya Klishina of Russia won the women’s long jump in 6.78,  beating Brittney Reese of the U.S. by three centimetres.

“I missed Barcelona so this is something special for me, the  first Diamond League win of my career,” said Klishina.