NEW YORK -- Jamaica's Usain Bolt is officially the fastest man on the planet as he set a new 100 meters world record of 9.72 seconds at an international meeting in New York.
Bolt served notice of his immense talent ahead of the Beijing Olympics by breaking the world 100m record.
Bolt was trimming two hundredths of a second off the record previously held by fellow-Jamaican Asafa Powell and for good measure relegated world champion Tyson Gay to a distant second.
The 21-year-old had served notice of his excellent form by running a world's second fastest time of 9.76 seconds in Jamaica last month and he quickly took control of Saturday night's Reebok Grand Prix showdown with Gay, who finished in 9.85 seconds, still a personal best.
Bolt gave credit to a big contingent of Jamaicans who were in the crowd to watch his feat. "Just coming here, knowing a lot of Jamaicans were here giving me their support, it meant a lot," Bolt told the Associated Press. "I just wanted to give them what they wanted."
"He ran a perfect race," Gay said. "I've got to take my hat off to him."
"An awesome athlete," said Shawn Crawford, who finished sixth and witnessed history from two lanes inside of Bolt. "The time shows it."
Bolt from the blue hits 100 meters
The lanky 1.95 meter Bolt had produced his previous best performances before this year over 200 meters and finished second to Gay at this distance in last year's world championships.
With doubts over his starting ability in the 100 meters, Bolt was even pondering a move up to 400 meters in favor of the 100.
But the record changes all that and with Powell, who is recovering from a chest injury, and Gay he will be among the favorites for the 100 meters at the Beijing Olympics.
He faces a showdown at the end of June with Powell at the Jamaican national championshps. Also at the Jamaican event will be Veronica Campbell-Brown, who won the women's 100m on Saturday in 10.91, the fastest time of 2008.
The start of the night was delayed by an hour because of threatening weather the area and the meeting was briefly hit by a storm which left the track shimmering with a moist sheen ahead of the race of the night.
Bolt was assisted by a healthy tailwind of 1.7 meters per second, just under the limit at which a record can be set.
Asafa Powell says congrats, but he's out to reclaim record.
Asafa Powell, the former world 100m record holder, has hailed Usain Bolt's record-breaking achievement, calling it deserving.
Bolt ran 9.72 at Saturday night's Reebok Grand Prix in New York city, which erased Powell's previous mark of 9.74 seconds.
"I am very happy for Bolt. He's a big guy and he trains very hard, he deserves the record," said Powell in a statement through his manager Paul Doyle.
While Powell congratulated Bolt, he made it quite clear that he will be attempting to reclaim the world record.
"I know that I can run in the 9.6s," the statement quoted Powell as saying.
Possible clashes?
Powell also hinted of possible clashes with Bolt, the first of which will be at National Championships, which will be run at the National Stadium from June 27-29.
"It will be a very exciting summer," he said.
Bolt, in the meantime, downplayed impending match-ups with his fellow Jamaican superstar.
"I don't think it will be a showdown," he said of their possible face-off at trials. "I just think Asafa and I will just be going out there to make the team to Beijing. I don't think we're going out there to prove anything, that's how I will be looking at it I don't know how Asafa will be looking at it," said Bolt.
Pertaining to their meetings on the grand prix circuit, Bolt said: "Right now, I am not really putting that on my mind, I am just trying to work on my 200m because I did a lot of 100m training, so it's really time to focus on my 200m," he added.
