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Bolt signals injury return with sprint win

World record sprinter Usain Bolt returned from an achilles tendon injury with a clear win over seven rivals at the Diamond League meet here Thursday.

Lausanne: World record sprinter Usain Bolt returned from an achilles tendon injury with a clear win over seven rivals at the Diamond League meet here Thursday.
The Jamaican outran his 100 metres opponents comfortably, racing across the finish line in a time of 9.82 seconds. Asked if he felt any pain during the run, Bolt replied: "Slightly." But he quickly added that he "would not say it was painful, but that it takes time to heal." Overall, the world champion who matched the best time this season assessed: "I was feeling extremely nice and good." "It`s getting better and the weather was warm so it was good," added the Olympic star, who won the loudest cheers at the stadium. "I`m very happy because the weather helped me to run fast and Billie Jean brought me in the best conditions for the race, because I felt a bit asleep by the training," he said, referring to Michael Jackson`s hit song. Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake came second with 9.96s while Churandy Martina took third with 10.16s. Bolt, the world record holder for 100 metres and 200 metres, had decided to run the shorter sprint instead of the 200 in order to avoid any new injury, the organisers of the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne had said ahead of the event. To accomodate Bolt, organiser Jacky Delapierre had obtained special approval from the IAAF to add the 100 metres event to the programme. With Bolt out of the 200 metres, American Walter Dix prevailed with a time of 19.86 seconds, though it remained far from the time of 19.56 seconds set by Bolt this year before he picked up his injury. While short of all-time records, several athletes managed this year`s bests here. American Jeremy Wariner managed to shave a few seconds off the season`s top 400 metres time, with 44.57 seconds. Cuban Yargelis Savigne soared past 14.99 metres in the triple jump, wiping out the previous farthest reached this year by Kazakhstan`s Olga Rypakova. Ethiopian Gelete Burka completed the 1500 metres under the four minute mark with 3:59.28. Just behind her was Morrocan Ibtissam Lakhouad, who finished with 3:59:35. Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot took first place in the 3000 metres in 8:23.60. Fellow Kenyan Nicholas Kemboi only just improved the season`s best in the 1500m with 3:31.52. In the 3000m steeplechase, Kenyan Brimin Kiprop Kipruto finished with 8:01.62, an improvement of about two seconds this year. Bureau Report