Usain Bolt could have run the Olympic 100m in 9.55 seconds had he not eased up before crossing the finish line, according to a scientific study released Thursday. The 22-year-old Jamaican broke his own 100m world record to win Olympic gold, clocking 9.69sec despite decelerating in the final 15 metres, opening up his arms and thumping his chest as he crossed the line. Hans Eriksen and his colleagues at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, Norway, used television footage to measure Bolt's positions, speeds and accelerations as well as those of the runner-up, Richard Thompson, the London-based New Scientist magazine reported. Their measurements show both Bolt and Thompson decelerating in the final two seconds of the race, with a larger drop in speed for Bolt, it said. “We don't mean to say that this is the final and ultimate result,” Eriksen said. “Instead, it's a fun application of simple physics, and we've done the best we can.” Powell goes after record In Berlin, Jamaica's Asafa Powell has been over-shadowed by compatriot and triple Olympic gold-medalist Usain Bolt this season, but the former world 100m record holder aims to finish in style in Stuttgart. After five sub-ten second 100m races in eight days, and only one loss, in Brussels last Friday to Bolt, Powell will be looking to bring the curtain down on his season at the World Athletics Final with another fast time. Powell has already run sub-ten second times in the last two years the final has been held in the German city and with Bolt now back in Jamaica resting after his record-shattering season, Powell will look to dominate the field. He clocked 9.89 seconds in 2006 and 9.83sec last year. After last year's performance, into a strong head wind, Powell said: “It was one of my best, I was looking for a little more.” And he might well get it having been one of the few athletes to beat world-record holder Bolt this season when the Olympic champion suffered from a slow start in Stockholm on July 22 and Powell shaded him 9.88sec to 9.89. With a bonus of $100,000 on offer for any world records set at the World Athletics Final, Powell has plenty of incentive to dig deep one more time this summer. The men's 100m in Stuttgart takes place at 1515 GMT on Saturday.
