Jamaican sprinters Veronica Campbell (left) and Usain Bolt in Helsinki yesterday. - REUTERS
HELSINKI (Reuters):
BEING WORLD 200 metres junior champion and record holder carries little kudos when it comes to mixing it with the best at a major championship.
Just ask Usain Bolt.
The 18-year-old Jamaican, inevitably nicknamed 'lightning', failed to live up to his flash reputation when he failed to negotiate his first heat at last year's Olympic Games.
With expectations high after smashing the world junior record by hurtling home in 19.93 seconds in April, nerves, pressure and a niggling hamstring injury took their toll.
"Last year was last year ... it wasn't a good time for me. I got the world junior record but I also got injured," Bolt told a news conference yesterday.
"I wasn't fully fit, I was not ready for the competition."
A year on, Bolt heads into the World Championships in the Finnish capital, which start tomorrow, a wiser and stronger runner. He also carries the hopes of a nation on his shoulders after injury forced world record holder Asafa Powell out of the 100 metres.
Becoming the world junior champion at 15, Bolt is accustomed to being hailed as the next great sprinter to emerge from the Caribbean.
Just getting to the final in Helsinki will do for starters, although there should be no excuses this time as he says he is 100 per cent fit.
THINKING ABOUT A MEDAL
"I think I have a pretty good chance. I'm not thinking about reaching the final right now, I'm not really thinking about a medal," he said.
"Olympic 200 metres champion Shawn Crawford is concentrating on the shorter sprint, but there is still defending world champion John Capel and Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin to contend with.
Then there is Wallace Spearmon, the fastest man in the world this year as well as Tyson Gay, the third man to go under 20 seconds in 2005.
Bolt finished second behind Spearmon in London last month, clocking a season's best of 19.99 seconds, and says that performance reaffirmed his belief that his time is coming.
"Everybody has confidence in me but I don't take anybody lightly," he said.
"Hopefully, I can go under 20 again, if the track is fast enough."
