PRAGUE: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt announced yesterday he was pulling out of the June 27 Golden Spike event in Ostrava in the Czech Republic, choosing instead to stay at home for training.
“I want to apologise to my fans in Ostrava, but this year I will not be coming to the Golden Spike meeting,” Bolt said in a statement offered by the organisers.
“Instead I will stay in Jamaica with my coach for an extra week to focus on training before coming to Europe,” said Bolt, who won the 100-metre title at the Jamaican championships last Friday, clocking 9.94 seconds.
In Ostrava, Bolt was originally scheduled to run the 4x100m relay together with another Jamaican star Yohan Blake who pulled out earlier.
Bolt, Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter set a 4x100m relay world record time of 36.84secs at the London Olympics last year.
The event’s star list also comprises Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva (pole vault), Australia’s Sally Pearson (100m hurdles), Russia’s Ivan Ukhov (high jump) and New Zealand’s Valerie Adams (shot put).
Meanwhile, Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment was forced out of the Jamaican national championships after he twisted his ankle due to inadequate lighting during the warmups for the 110 metres hurdles final yesterday.
Parchment, who has run the world’s leading time this year of 13.05 seconds, trod on a hurdle in the warmup area shortly before the final, which was won by Andrew Riley.
“He was warming up and twisted his left ankle on one hurdle, which was lying around,” Parchment’s coach Fitz Coleman said. “The lighting could have been better at the warmup track.”
The Jamaican championships are doubling as selection trials for the Caribbean country’s squad for the world championships in Moscow.REUTERS
