Rome: Usain Bolt may have won in the fastest time this year and set a new meeting record at the Diamond League in Rome but he is still expecting coach Glen Mills to explain what he did wrong.
While he could understandably be upset with his 10.04 second run in Ostrava last week despite winning, it seemed as if everything had clicked into place in the Eternal City.
The world record holder ran 9.76, lowering his own season’s best by six hundredths of a second and beating Tyson Gay’s meet record by just 0.01.
His start was reasonable and once he got into his stride he was a class apart, striding clear of a talented field.
Asafa Powell, the former world record holder, was second in 9.91 with European champion Christophe Lemaitre third in 10.04.
But now Bolt believes he needs to go back to the drawing board.
“Overall it was a good race, last time I came here it was without a lot of races, but this time the execution was good,” he said.
“I’m happy but I’m just going to go home and call my coach so he can explain to me what I did wrong, what I did right and I’ll look forward to the next race.”
The Olympic champion was a little terse when asked for the umpteenth time about his poor run in Ostrava.
“I’ve explained to you guys that everyone has a bad race every now and again, I just have to go back to the drawing board.
“I couldn’t sleep in Ostrava but here I made sure I went to bed early.
“I do eat fast food but I do try to get a lot of pasta in, as you get older you have to watch your diet.”
As for his start he wasn’t entirely satisfied, despite Lemaitre next to him coming out the blocks far slower.
“That’s always the biggest point of my race, I think it’s all about consistency. The rest comes together if you get a good start.”
However, there was no doubt that Bolt feels he is on the right track in terms of his Olympic preparation.
“I think I’m getting there, it wasn’t the perfect race, it had flaws but I just have to continue working on what’s necessary.”
While Bolt was at best satisfied, Powell was quite upset.
He said he’d had problems at the start, which explained why he briefly started running in former world champion Kim Collins’s lane.
“I didn’t hear set and I didn’t hear go, I just came out the starting blocks with Kim Collins, that’s all,” said Powell.
“I didn’t get out the starting blocks like I should, I didn’t start properly, I was all over the track and the last part of the race I let everything get the best of me and slowed down.
“I expect a better race [in Oslo], I’ll go there to execute and I hope all goes well and I run a lot better.
“My training is going very well, I’m very upset about this race, not that I lost but that I didn’t get to execute as I wanted to.
“My training is going very well, I know what I’m supposed to do and what I can do and the next race I hope I can put it on track and be satisfied.”
