Usain Bolt with his World Junior record clock (© GrenadaSports)
Those present yesterday at the last day of the Annual Carifta Games in the national stadium in Hamilton, Bermuda on Easter Sunday afternoon (11 April) were treated to a bolt of lightening. 17 year-old Usain Bolt of Jamaica, the World Junior and Youth champion flashed to a new World Junior record for 200m of 19.93 seconds!
Bolt had tied the former World record of 20.13sec at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados on 20 July last year. The co-World record holder being USA's Roy Martin who had run that same time back in 1985.
On a chilly Easter Sunday afternoon Bolt smashed that jointly held record by .20 of a second, finishing in 19.93, which was also the fastest time in the world this year. The wind reading was 1.4 metres per second.
Bolt ran out of lane five, finishing more than a second ahead of the field. Daniel Bailey of Antigua and Barbuda finished in second place with a time of 21.07. Jamaican Nestar Carter won the bronze in 21.10.
Bolt won the World Junior Championships in Kingston in 2002 at the tender age of fifteen and will be eighteen on 21 August of this year during the Athens Olympics.
Bermuda last hosted the Carifta Games in 1980 and the athletes, officials, and fans from abroad enjoyed the competition, the organization of the meet, and the friendliness of the Bermudan people.
Jamaica dominated once again, as they have since 1985. Their medal total was 79, above the previous record total of 74. They had thirty-seven gold, twenty-three silver, and nineteen bronze.
Barbados had five gold, two silver, and four bronze for a total of eleven. Trinidad and Tobago, last year's host had four gold, seven silver, and eleven bronze, for a total of twenty-two. Bermuda, the host country had four gold, two silver, and three bronze, for a total of nine medals. The Bahamas had three gold, seven silvers, and eleven bronze for a total of twenty-one.
The weather in Bermuda, the northernmost member of the Carifta family was cool the entire weekend.
Bolt's record run was the first time that a World Junior Record had been established at the Carifta Games.
The next Carifta Games is scheduled for Easter 2005 in Grenada.
