Don't get me wrong Blakes' victory is not a total surprise, I remember him running 19.78 in Monaco last year, so I did peg him to beat Walter Dix to the line with maybe a 19.75 or even a 19.73. To say I grossly miscalculated would be putting it mildly. I honestly had to do a double take on the time. This young man stunned the audience and in the process banished Usain Bolt's earlier performance of 9.76 in the 100m to distant memory.
Any doubts about Blake's ascent to world class sprinting, must now be erased. Despite a horrible start, Blake ran down and passed world silver medalist Walter Dix. To his credit, Dix did finish in a stunning personal best of 9.53sec, the fastest time for a second place finisher in this event. Which means he has now run even faster than Tyson Gay. Another Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade was 3rd in a personal best of 19.91. I wonder what Blake's time would have been, had he gotten a better start? You do realize we came tantalizingly close to seeing a new world record.
Ok, now that my heart rate has returned to normal, I can get on with the business of analyzing the men's 100 metres. Ahead of the meet Bolt did say he wanted to end the season with a world leading time and he did just that. After his customary shaky start, he powered past compatriot Nesta Carter to win in 9.76sec, the fastest he's run since Berlin. Carter finished in 9.89 and fellow Jamaican Lerone Clarke clocked 10.05 for 3rd.
On any other day Bolt's delivery would have been well lauded but today the big man was upstaged by his younger teammate.
Camelita Meter ends season with another win
In the women's 100m world champion Carmelita Jeter her fine form with another convincing win over Jamaica's Veronica Campbell Brown. Jeter got a poor start but that didn't matter much as she motored past both Kelly-Ann Baptiste and VCB to win the event in 10.78. VCB finished second in 10.85 while fast starting Baptiste held on for 3rd in a season's best of 10.90
Sally Pearson crashes out of the women's 100 hurdles
Tragedy struck in the women's 100m hurdles for the newly crowned world champion Sally Pearson. After leading the race, Pearson clipped the sixth hurdle and crashed into the 7th. The Australian collapsed on the track in disbelief, while American Danielle Carruthers went on to win in 12.65. Carruthers also copped the Diamond League trophy for amassing the most points in the event throughout the series. Yvette Lewis and Kellie Wells were 2nd and 3rd with both awarded the same time of 12.77
While the sprint events took centre stage in Brussels the distance races were not to be outdone as Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele set the fastest time of the year in the 10,000 meters. Bekele who could not finish the race in Daegu displayed a splendid return to form with a time of 26 minutes, 43.16 seconds, almost 4 seconds faster that the previous year's best mark by Mo Farah.
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