Blake wins, Bolt DNS

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Bolt a no-show as Blake takes second

12 February 2012, 07:49

World 100-metre champion Yohan Blake opened his season with a 400m personal best on Saturday at the Camperdown Classic in Kingston while 100m world-record holder Usain Bolt skipped the Jamaican meet.

Blake’s time of 46.49 seconds was .2 of a second behind winner Allodin Fothergill, a member of Jamaica’s third-place 4x400m team at last year’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Blake, who ran very easily for the first 200 metres, faded in the homestretch with Fothergill moving past in the last 10 metres for the victory.

“Alodin Fothergill is a 400m man so he got the better of me,” Blake said. "I could have run faster if I had gotten out better. Today was just my first 400m so if I have one more, I will go faster.

“It’s a wonderful feeling and I ran a personal best, which means the season is going quite well.”

Blake warned his sprint rivals that he is “much, much stronger this year and faster. Running 46.4 in my first outing is wonderful.”

Just as Blake skipped the 100, training partner and reigning Olympic champion Bolt passed on the entire meet after saying for more than a month that he planned to compete.

Among those who bothered to run the men’s 100m in the event, former Jamaican national champion Oshane Bailey won in 10.49 seconds.

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Bolt’s absence sparks health fears

12 February 2012, 22:34

World 100-metre record holder Usain Bolt has sparked health worries by not running in a hometown meet where he had planned to race after being sighted in Germany instead.

Bolt did not run at Saturday’s Camperdown Classic at Jamaica’s national stadium after a statement three days earlier in which he said he was “happy to be healthy”, “excited to begin my season” and “looking forward to a good performance.”

Bolt’s coach, Glen Mills, denied Bolt had planned to compete in Kingston and said his superstar pupil, set to defend Olympic 100 and 200 gold in August at London, was “overseas on his personal business.”

Mills said he was shocked about notions that Bolt might be injured, even as some within his Racers Track Club say he departed the Caribbean island as early as last Wednesday to undergo precautionary tests for a nagging leg tightness.

World 100m champion Yohan Blake said after a second-place 400m finish at the Camperdown meet that training partner Bolt is fine.

“Bolt is quite OK,” Blake said. “He is doing well in training. He is getting back to his old self. He is off the island to do a general checkup. He’s OK.”

Any disturbance to Bolt’s training is a concern with his bid at repeating Olympic gold less than six months away and a host of rivals, including Blake and fellow compatriot Asafa Powell, anxious to try and detrhrone him.

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//youtu.be/v6kKUpS5ir4

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Right on! There was a view on blake at all times, 186 strides he took. In tysons 44.89 opener from 2010 he took 176 strides, just for some comparison between 1-2 sprinters using the 400m.

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I’m actually inclined to believe that yohan could get mj’s 300m time. Given his 19.23 speed combined with their concurrent long dominant program, it seems a given.

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London 2012 Olympics: Usain Bolt’s agent plays down injury fears after sprinter visits German doctor

Usain Bolt’s agent has denied the Olympic sprint champion is struggling to get fit with just six months to go until the London Games.

By Telegraph staff

9:16AM GMT 14 Feb 2012

2 Comments

Bolt flew to Munich last week to visit one of Europe’s most controversial doctors less than a week after pulling out of the Camperdown Classic in Kingston on Saturday, the Jamaican’s first scheduled race of the season.

Bolt had been expected to launch his season at the National Stadium but was spotted instead in Germany late last week, so the track was buzzing with rumours that he might have a recurrence of the back trouble which has required treatment from Munich-based specialist ‘Healing’ Hans Müller-Wohlfahrt.

According to reports, Bolt secretly visited the expensive clinic of Muller-Wohlfahrt, a 69-year-old doctor who is known for using unorthodox methods which include injecting patients with calf’s blood.

Bolt missed the end of the 2010 season with a back injury and was treated by Muller-Wohlfahrt so it is possible that the triple gold medallist is nursing a fresh injury.

His agent Simms has moves to quash any rumours, however: “People can put two and two together and make five. Any speculation is ridiculous.”

"He is not injured. He trained fully up to leaving Jamaica and is training fully

Coach Glen Mills was also quick to play down reports that his star pupil was struggling with injury, insisting that his visit to Europe was for a business trip.

“Bolt is not injured,” said Mills. “He trained up to the day before he left the island for his business trip.”

Bolt’s biggest challenger, Yohan Blake, revealed that the defending 100m champion has been in flying form when they sprint together in training and believes that they could push each other to barrier-breaking peaks this summer.

Blake insisted that Bolt looked as good as ever after his slightly hit-and-miss 2011. “Usain is getting back to his old self,” he said.

“He’s not frightened of me. He’s the world’s fastest man and he knows what he can do.”

At the end of last season, Blake clocked 19.26sec for 200m, a time bettered only by Bolt’s world record 19.19sec.

Asked if he felt they could push each other to crack the 19-second barrier, Blake said: “It’s possible. Given the right day, no breeze, anything can happen.”

Despite his unusual treatments being criticised as a “Frankenstein-type experiment” by the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, Muller-Wohlfahrt is a favourite of top athletes struggling with debilitating injuries.

Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Paula Radcliffe, Ronaldo and Boris Becker have all seen the German physician.

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How much does the good doctor charge?