Even though Yelena Isinbayeva, Sanya Richards and Kenenisa Bekele earned a split of the $1 million Golden League jackpot Friday, Usain Bolt claimed all the attention again with the fourth fastest 200 meters in history. Because of a wet track and cold conditions at the Van Damme Memorial, Bolt never got close to his world record of 19.19 seconds in Berlin last month. But when it came to performing in bad conditions, nobody's done better than his 19.57 Friday. With clouds overhead as black as the shirt he wore, Bolt didn't have the perfect start but once he mastered the smooth curve on the brand-new Mondo track, it was as if he was racing alone. Even if such times become mundane by his standards, all of the 50,000 fans braving the damp conditions and 16-degree C (61 F) cold in King Baudouin Stadium knew they saw something special. His smile was as brilliant as ever, the theatrics a lot more understated. But, watched by IOC president Jacques Rogge, Bolt made the meet his own again. “I felt wonderful,” he said. “I was fatigued in the last 20-30 meters. But the crowd gave me that extra push. I was very surprised by the energy they gave me.” Only his world record in Berlin, his Olympic time in Beijing last year, and Michael Johnson's 1996 Atlanta Games times were better. All those were run in near ideal conditions. In the long shadow of Bolt, three other stars claimed $333,333 checks each by making it a perfect six-for-six wins in the Golden League season. World 400m champion Richards led her entire race and set the season's leading time of 48.83 seconds to claim the prize. Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu of Britain was second in 50.43. Pole vaulter Isinbayeva needed only jump 4.70 meters to beat Poland's Monika Pyrek on a countback. She failed three attempts at a world record of 5.07 after setting 5.06 only last week. Two years ago, Isinbayeva won half of the jackpot, sharing it with Richards. World and Olympic champion Bekele was not as dominant as usual but still held enough of a finishing kick to hold off fellow Ethiopian Imane Merga. Bekele was equally bent on sharing the jackpot. After feeling tired in the wake of his fifth win at the Weltklasse last week, he flew straight back to Ethiopia for four days of high-altitude training before rushing back for Friday's race. In the absence of Bolt, fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell beat Tyson Gay in the 100, blasting out of the blocks and never giving the American a chance to get back in the race. On a wet track, Powell timed 9.90 seconds, edging Gay by .10. American Darvis Patton was third in 10.08. “Without a Bolt, it is boring,” said Powell. Because Bolt did not compete in all of the Golden League meets, he was not in line for the jackpot and competed in the 200 instead. In the women's sprint, American Carmelita Jeter turned the tables on the Jamaicans, beating world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser with a time of 10.88 for an edge of .10. Another Jamaican, Kerron Stewart, was third. A Kenyan quartet beat the oldest world record in athletics, edging the 32-year-old 4x1500-meter mark of West Germany. William Biwott, Gideon Gathimba, Geoffrey Rono and Augustine Choge set a time of 14 minutes 36.23 seconds, going just inside the 14:38.8 set by the West Germans in 1977. The relay distance is never run at major championships and very rarely at big meets like the Golden League. Without reigning world and Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner won the 400m in 44.94, easily holding off Renny Quow of Trinidad and Tobago, the world bronze medalist. Blanka Vlasic confirmed her dominance of the high jump but the cold weather limited her to a winning jump of 2 meters, beating Russia Anna Chicherova.
