PARIS, February 3 – Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt will race the 100 metres in the June 12 meet at New York, the fifth leg of the Diamond League, event organisers announced on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old phenomenon will return to the track at the Icahn stadium where he set his first 100m world record of 9.72sec in May 2008.
"The track was lit up by lightning but despite the storm, the supporters stayed seated to watch the 100m. So I know they enjoyed my speed," recalled Bolt, nicknamed ‘Lightning Bolt’.
The rest of Bolt’s 2010 programme remains undecided, although it is practically certain that he will miss the Commonwealth Games, set to take place in New Delhi in October.
By contrast, he is expected to compete in the majority of the 14 events that make up the new Diamond League programme.
The Diamond League begins in Doha on May 14 and will replace the Golden League, which grouped together the six most high-profile meets of the summer season.
After winning three gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay), Bolt won the same three events in the world championships in Berlin last August, setting new world records in the 100m (9.58sec) and the 200m (19.19).
