Usain Bolt cool on rivals' ambitions after 200m cruise

USAIN Bolt is adamant that this season will be a low-key one for him even if Tyson Gay and others pursue their ambitions of not only beating him but trying to break his world sprint records.

Bolt coasted to an easy success against a makeshift field to win over 200 metres at the Shanghai IAAF Diamond League meeting yesterday, just four days after posting the world's fastest 100m time of 9.86 seconds in Daegu, South Korea.

In his debut on the newly created global circuit, the 23-year-old Jamaican produced a world-class mark of 19.76secs despite the absence of any genuine pressure. That may be well short of the world record of 19.19 he ran in Berlin last August and the time of 19.30 which he set when clinching the Olympic gold medal on his last visit to China almost two years ago. But it is still a performance well beyond the capability of most of the sprinters on the circuit, indeed only Gay and his fellow American Wallace Spearmon of the current crop have gone faster.

"It was a good run, the feeling was good but it was not easy," said Bolt, who is now unbeaten over the distance in finals in his past 13 appearances dating back to September 2007. Despite leading both the world 100m and 200m ranking lists, he added: "I am not in the best of shape but I enjoyed it.

"I really wanted a good time, because I am not going to come to China very often.

"This year I'm not going to chase any records," added Bolt. "I said it doesn't matter if I get beaten this season. If Tyson decides that he wants to break the world record and is going to chase it, that's fine with me and I've got no problem with that."

Bolt's next appearance will see him compete over 300m at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Ostrava on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's Jenny Meadows made a superb start to her 800m outdoor campaign when jumping in at the deep end paid dividends and she finished a close second to Janeth Jepkosgei.

Meadows was just 0.28secs behind the Kenyan, who clocked two minutes 01.06 secs. "I was expecting a much faster race but it became tactical down the back straight with everyone watching one another and developed into a sprint for the line."

Meadows, who pushed Jamaica's world leader Kenia Sinclair into third place, added: "I managed to pull her back down the home straight, but Jepkosgei was just too strong – she's a brilliant runner."

United States-based Michael Bingham, who was given British citizenship three years ago, also had a solid start to his campaign when he finished third behind the American duo of Jeremy Wariner and David Neville.

The former Olympic and world champion won by a margin of 0.29secs in a season's best of 45.41 with Bingham chasing the pair home in 45.84.

Commonwealth bronze medallist Steve Lewis finished seventh in his pole vault contest with a height of 5.40m. German Malte Mohr was a surprise winner, clearing 5.70m.