Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt continued his unstoppable streak of form with a comprehensive win in the 100 metres at the Zurich Golden League meeting here on Friday.

In a packed 26,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadium, Pamela Jelimo of Kenya also went close to beating the oldest track and field world record in the books in the women's 800m.

Bolt, who set an unprecdented three world records en route to Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay golds, beat a field that included six of the Olympic finalists plus 200m silver medallist Shawn Crawford.

The 22-year-old timed 9.83sec, the 14th fastest time ever, and a time bested by only three other sprinters - the now-retired Maurice Greene, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay.

"It was good: a nice track and a great crowd," said Bolt.

"My start was not too good. I concentrated on winning, and as I am starting to get a cold, I was not able to think about any faster a time.

"My coach told me that I should make sure to end the season healthy."

Double Olympic bronze medallist Walter Dix of the United States came second in 9.99sec, with Trinidad and Tobago's silver medallist from Beijing, Richard Thompson, in third at 10.09sec

Olympic 800m champion Jelimo broke her own world junior record when she ran the third fastest time ever in the event.

Led magnificently through 600 metres by Russian pacemaker Svetlana Klyuka, who was fourth in the Olympic final, Jelimo clocked 1:54.01.

Only Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova (1:53.28) and Russian Nadezhda Olizarenko (1:53.43) have run faster, back in 1983 and 1980 respectively.

Jelimo's victory means she remains in contention for the one-million-dollar Golden League Jackpot, with the series' final meeting coming in Brussels next week.

"I am so tired," said Jelimo. "But this was my best race with the best pacemakers. The world record is now closer but I'm not sure I can do it this year, maybe next. There's still one race to go for the jackpot."

It was a mixed night for the 10 other Olympic champions on show.

Cuban 110m hurdler Dayron Robles beat American archrival David Oliver by one-hundredth of a second in 12.97sec) for his third Golden League win of the season.

Norwegian javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen dominated the field with a best of 90.28m to follow up on his Olympic success.

And Angelo Taylor saw off Kerron Clement in a re-run of the men's 400m hurdles in Beijing, the double Olympic champion winning in 48.07sec.

But Bahrain's Olympic 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi was beaten into second in the 1500m, Belgian high jumper Tia Hellebaut crashed out at a miserly 1.85m, and LaShawn Merritt was beaten into second in the men's 400m by American compatriot Jeremy Wariner.

Two Kenyans who failed to qualify for the Beijing Games also shone on the track in the men's 1500m and 3000m steeplechase.

African champion Haron Keitany outsprinted Ramzi to win the 1500m in 3:32.06, while Paul Koech, a bronze medallist at the 2004 Athens Games who missed the cut for the Kenyan team for this summer's Games, won a fast 3000m steeplechase in 8:04.26.

"This was my Olympic Games," admitted Koech. "The pacemakers did their job well."

Olympic bronze medallist Sanya Richards of the United States won the women's 400m in an overdue season's best of 49.74sec, and American compatriot Allyson Felix, the Olympic silver medallist, won the 200m in 22.37sec.

AFP

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