Trelawny: Jamaican sprinter and three-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has put on hold his plans to challenge American sprinter Michael Johnson’s 400metres world record until after the 2012 London Olympics.
Bolt, the world’s fastest man at both 100m and 200m, competes over 300m in May, but will delay a bid to break Johnson’s 43.18secs mark for the 400m.
“The 400m is somewhere, but hopefully after 2012,” Bolt was quoted as saying.
Bolt had earlier suggested that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record this year, as no major championships are scheduled for the year.
The 23-year-old holds the world record for the 100 metres, the 200 metres and, along with his team-mates, the 4x100 metres relay.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bolt became the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics.
He set world records in both 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran the 100 m event in a record time of 9.69secs to break his own previous record of 9.72secs and in the 200 m event he broke previous record of 19.32secs by Johnson at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with a record time of 19.30secs.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 12:03