Bolt staves off false starts to move into 100m semi-finals

Saturday, 2 July 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters (Kingston): Usain Bolt negotiated a series of delays and a false start in his own race before easily winning his quarter-final of the 100m in 10.15 seconds at Jamaica’s national championships on Friday.

Although sluggish from the blocks, the world record holder separated from the field after 40 metres before cruising across the line with the quarter-finals’ joint second fastest time.

The six-time Olympic gold medallist, however, was upset at the amount of time he had to wait before getting to run after a succession of false starts in other races.

“It’s just the whole system which bothers me, you know I was out there too long,” Bolt told Reuters after warming down.

“They (organisers) just sent everybody out and a whole lot of false starts and I was in the last heat and I kind of got cold so I didn’t feel as fluent as I wanted to and that’s what I was really annoyed about.

“If I can get through that then I’ll be fine.”

Nickel Ashmeade, who win the third of the four quarter-finals, was the fastest qualifier in a time of 10.07 seconds. Asafa Powell clocked 10.17, while Yohan Blake and Kemar Bailey-Cole both recorded 10.26.

The semi-finals and final are on Friday.

Two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (11.38), Simone Facey (11.31), Elaine Thompson (11.38) and Veronica Campbell-Brown won their heats in the women’s 100 to move into the semi-finals.