Bolt Winning Race Against Time To Peak For London

Usain Bolt says he is over his early season
setbacks and running into form at the right time,
to sign off his career with two more gold medals
at next month’s world athletics championships in
London.
Bolt laboured to a 10.06 seconds 100 metres
victory in the Czech Republic last month and
immediately travelled to see his doctor, German
Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt, for some
treatment on the back issues that have troubled
him for years.
The Jamaican world record holder will test his
treated back in Friday’s Diamond League meeting
in Monaco.
Friday’s meeting will be his last outing before he
defends his 100m title and then goes in the
4x100m relay in the world championships.
“I’m feeling good,” Bolt told a Monaco news
conference on Wednesday, before explaining how
the death in a motorcycle accident in April of his
close friend and former British high jumper
Germaine Mason had hampered his progress.
“The season started off slow for me. I had a
setback after my friend Germaine passed away, it
kind of set me back a little bit,” he said.
“I had some work to do so I’ve been a little
behind schedule but I’m training well.
“I’m feeling much better over the last couple of
days because I went to see my doctor in Germany
and I’ve been training good, so that’s a good
sign.
“The weather’s great here so hopefully on Friday
it will be the same and I can perform at my best.”
Bolt is unlikely to ever again match his best – the
2009 world record of 9.58.
And the 30-year-old said he would be happy with
any sub-10 second time as he seeks to find the
speed he knows he will need on Aug. 5.
“It’s just all about execution now, going out there
trying not worry too much about time,” he said.
“It would be good to dip under 10 seconds which
will always help everyone’s confidence.”
Bolt, with eight Olympic and 11 world
championship gold medals and a host of world
records to his name, said the time was right to
retire having achieved all his goals.
He laughed off the suggestion that he was
running scared of Wayde van Niekerk.
But the Jamaican said he regretted that he was
walking away just as the South African 400m and
– as of last month – 300m world record holder
was becoming the sport’s newest star.
“I think that’s one of the most disappointing
things in my career.
“Now, that he came along at this late stage, that I
didn’t get to compete against him because I think
he’s one of the best hands down right now,” he
said.
“I’m never afraid, I love competition, but it’s too
late now, he’s at the end of my career so, we’ll
never know.”