London 2012 Olympic trials: Usain Bolt beaten in to second place by Yohan Blake at Jamaican Olympic Athletic Trials

The fastest man in history is, for the time being at least, no longer the fastest man in Jamaica after Usain Bolt slumped to a sensational 100 metres defeat at the hands of his training partner, Yohan Blake, at the Jamaican Olympic trials in Kingston.

Second serving: Yohan Blake got the better of Usain Bolt in the Jamaican trials to serve notice of his threat to the Olympic champion's title Photo: REUTERS

By Simon Hart

7:04AM BST 30 Jun 2012

Comments

Blake, who took the world title in Daegu last summer when Bolt was disqualified for a false start, blew away the triple Olympic champion with a winning time of 9.75 sec, with Bolt 0.11 sec behind in second place. Asafa Powell, the former world record-holder, was a further 0.02 sec adrift but sealed the third available Olympic spot.

Blake’s performance, which scarcely could have been predicted after he had struggled to find top gear during the early part of the season, sent a powerful warning to Bolt that he has a major fight on his hands to defend his Olympic crown in London in five weeks’ time.

His time, which was set with a legal tailwind of +1.1m/s, was the fastest in the world this year and it makes him the fourth fastest man in history after Bolt, American Tyson Gay and Powell. His previous best was 9.82 sec.

"Nine-point-seven-five, it's awesome," said Blake. "I won the world championship, so I've got that. Now, I'm the national champion for Jamaica, so I've got that. And now, I go into the Olympics like this."

Bolt, whose best time of the year was the 9.76 sec he ran at the Rome Golden Gala earlier this month, suffered from his familiar problem of a poor start and it took a monumental effort just to overhaul Powell to claim the runner-up spot.

But there was clear daylight between Bolt and Blake, the man known as ‘the Beast’ because of his prodigious work ethic in training, who let out a celebratory scream as he crossed the finish line.

Bolt, who was the first to congratulate Blake with a handshake and a pat on the head, said afterwards: "He's a class runner without a doubt and I have said it over the years that he is one of the best. So, for me, it's just one of those things.”

There were more fireworks in the women's 100 as defending Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won in a Jamaican record 10.70 sec, equalling the seventh fastest time ever, with Veronica Campbell-Brown taking second place and Kerron Stewart third.

"I always had faith because of my training," said Fraser-Pryce said. "I came out here to do my best. I did my best. It worked out. I'm going to the Olympics."