Bolt thinks winning Olympic gold would be a greater achievement
Usain Bolt set a new 100m world record by clocking 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix meeting in New York.
The 21-year-old Jamaican, who won silver in the 200m at last year's World Championships, was running the 100m for just the fifth time.
Bolt beats the previous best of 9.74 set by compatriot Asafa Powell.
"I wasn't looking for a world record but it was there for the taking so I just went out there and ran my best race," he said.
Bolt beat Tyson Gay into second place, with the American running a personal best of 9.85.
The 6ft 5in Bolt made the track world sit up and take notice on 3 May when he clocked the second-fastest 100m time in history, 9.76 seconds.
Bolt has made no secret of the fact that he sees himself as a 200m specialist and earlier in the week he was still undecided if he would even enter the 100m Jamaican Olympic trials.
100m RECORD EVOLUTION
9.72 U Bolt, New York 2008
9.74 A Powell, Rieti 2007
9.77 A Powell, Athens 2005
9.79 M Greene, Athens 1999
9.84 D Bailey, Atlanta 1996
9.85 L Burrell, Lausanne 1994
9.86 C Lewis, Tokyo 1991
9.90 L Burrell, New York 1991
9.92 C Lewis, Seoul 1988
9.93 C Smith, Colorado 1983
9.95 J Hines, Mexico 1968
However, after becoming the fastest man on the planet he confirmed he would now double up in Beijing: "I'm definitely going to run the 100 in the Olympics.
"I've just got to concentrate now and work on my 200 some more, because I haven't been doing a lot of 200 work."
And despite setting the world record, Bolt still considers the Olympics to be the big prize.
"I don't think there's any comparison between the two," he said. "You've got to be Olympic champion or world champion to really count.
"Tomorrow if someone comes and runs faster than me I'm no longer the fastest man in the world. If you're the Olympic champion then they have to wait four more years to get you again.
"I think the Olympics is the biggest thing, so I'm looking for that, definitely."
Bolt has primarily used the shorter distance to improve his start and admitted he was happy there had been a false start the first time he went into the blocks.
606: DEBATE
I'm telling you, Michael Johnson's 19.32 in the 200m must be vulnerable because Mr Bolt is coming for that one too
winston
"I was glad of that first false start," he said. "My first start wasn't that good but I knew if I got Tyson on the start I would have a better chance of winning.
"Tyson and I aren't really good at starting so, my coach said concentrate on your drive (out of the blocks) and transition phase, get it right and just take it from there and I did exactly that."
He added: "I got out well. I've been working on my start for a while. I think I did good work today on my start. I'm just happy with myself."
Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt ran the fastest ever 150m on Sunday in a street race held in a chilly and windy Manchester.
Bolt came home in 14.35sec, beating the previous best recorded by Italian Pietro Mennea of 14.8 in 1983. Britain's Marlon Devonish was second in 15.07sec.
In the women's race, American Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie clocked 16.54sec to beat Britain's Olympic 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu, who ran 17.10sec.
Jamaican Bolt, 22, had earlier predicted he would smash his own world 100m record this year.
He said bettering his world record of 9.69 seconds that he set in Beijing last August "shouldn't be a problem" this year.
"My coach expressed his views in Beijing, saying I could run 9.54, and I can definitely do that," he told the BBC.
"I still feel goose bumps when I hear or watch the Beijing 100m, it feels good to know I've done such a wonderful thing.
"But the 100m final was just another day for me. I knew I was going to win - I was feeling good, my starts were better and that was my main concern, so I wasn't really worried.
"I don't really think about (breaking the record again) but I think it's possible if everything goes well in training."
Asked how long he hoped to remain a force in world athletics, Bolt forecast he would be a threat until at least 2015.
"I can be at the top for six years if I want," he said. "That's the aim for me. My main goal is to make myself a legend and I'm going to work really hard to do that."
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie comfortably won the Great Manchester Run by 34 seconds with Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot's winning the women's race.
However, Gebrselassie failed in his bid to reclaim his world 10km record as gusting winds made his task impossible.
The 36-year-old - holder of 26 world records during his career - eased to victory but found a strong headwind in the final five kilometres impossible to overcome as he failed to better the world best mark of 27 minutes one second run by Kenya's Micah Kogo at the end of March.
Gebrselassie, whose major target this year is the Berlin Marathon in September, timed 27minutes 39seconds ahead of Ali Zaied of Libya (28:13) and Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Lebid (28:36).
The two-time Olympic 10,000m champion said that he had felt confident in the first-half of the race but realised as the contest entered the final 5km that he would not succeed.
"Today it was wonderful in the first half but on the way back the wind was horrible," said Gebrselassie, who nevertheless posted the fourth fastest time in the world this year.
"I wanted to run a world record, but in the second half it proved too difficult."
Double Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt will not be going for a hat-trick of individual titles at London 2012.
It had been suggested that Bolt would look to try and add the 400m crown to the 100m and 200m golds he won in Beijing last year.
But the Jamaican, 22, dismissed the possibility of adding to his schedule.
"I never actually said that I could run three events. I may be doing 100m and 200m, or 200m and 400m, but not all three," Bolt said.
"I don't think that I could do that at one track meet, so somebody got it wrong along the line."
Bolt, who was also part of the winning 4x100m team in Beijing in August, has set up a track club in Kingston to aid the next generation of sprinters.
The Racers Track Club, which has Bolt's coach Glen Mills as president, coaches athletes for the 100m, 200m, 400m and 400m hurdles.
Twenty-three athletes, including two female sprinters, are currently training at the club, with the sprinters coming from around the Caribbean and Africa.
"I know a few of them come prepared every day to win," added Bolt.
"Some are here because of me, but they are targeting me and want to beat me, which is something that I welcome and I look forward to them coming here."
Bolt, the world record holder over both 100m and 200m, ran the fastest 150m in history to win a street race in Manchester last month.
Olympic champion Usain Bolt has dismissed Tyson Gay's claims that he can steal his world 100m record.
Jamaican Bolt holds the record with 9.69 seconds set at the 2008 Beijing Games but Gay says he may beat that after clocking 9.75 at the US trials.
"No disrespect to Tyson but that is going to be a hard task for him, he is more of a 200m runner," Bolt said.
Bolt ran the fastest non-assisted time of the year with 9.86 to beat Asafa Powell and capture the Jamaican title.
Powell was quicker out of the blocks in Kingston but Bolt overtook him midway through the race and was able to ease to victory.
"It was good. I am just happy that I finished injury-free and I am feeling good," he said.
Asked about Powell's progress, Bolt added: "I would say Asafa is coming into shape and that is a good thing, his ankle is getting better. It is going to be a good season, as soon as he gets into shape its going to be very interesting."
Into a 0.2 negative wind, Powell, who said he was still experiencing discomfort with an ankle injury, clocked 9.97 to finish second.
"It was a fairly good race because I am basically running on one leg, so I'm fairly happy," he said. "The aim was just to finish in the top two.
"The ankle has really surprised me - I thought it would be gone by now but (the problem is) still there."
Gay failed to qualify for the final in Beijing last year after injury hampered his preparations but has the chance to test Bolt in the world championships in Berlin in August.
He was in confident mood after a speedy, albeit wind-assisted 9.75 seconds in his first 100m of the season at the US world championship trials in Eugene, Oregon on Thursday.
But Bolt played down suggestions that his world record was in danger and said: "He had a lot of (wind) assistance for that time. It is going to be very hard for him."
Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt ran the fourth-fastest 200m time in history as he stormed to victory in appalling conditions at the Lausanne Grand Prix.
Bolt ran 19.59 seconds despite a strong headwind and heavy rain in Switzerland.
Olympic 400m champion Lashawn Merritt was second with Shawn Crawford fourth, while Asafa Powell won the 100m.
Asked if he would have broken the world record in better weather Bolt said: "I don't even think of it in those terms, I was just trying to test myself."
The 22-year-old Jamaican admitted that there was still room for improvement ahead of next month's world championships, but was otherwise pleased with his form.
"I'm in good shape, but I'm not fully ready yet. I still need to work on a few technical things," said the 100m and 200m world record holder.
Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser continued Jamaica's domination in the sprints as they won the men's and women's 100m respectively.
Powell finished comfortably ahead of compatriot Steve Mullings in a time of 10.07 seconds, with American Mike Rodgers third.
Fraser won the women's 100m in 11.03, ahead of American Carmelita Jeter.
BBC Radio 5 Live's athletic's correspondent Mike Costello said Bolt's stunning performance showed that "any Beijing hangover is beginning to dissolve".
"The sport's greatest attraction showed that he is now back to his best," added Costello.
"The time was one-hundredth of a second slower than American Tyson Gay ran in New York five weeks ago.
"But whereas Gay had the conditions very much in his favour, Bolt ran in driving rain and a strong headwind.
"Bolt versus Gay at the world championships in Berlin next month will be contests to savour."
Costello added that Powell's display in the 100m meant he "could frighten even Bolt and Gay" in Germany.
Cuban Dayron Robles, the Olympic 110m hurdles gold medallist, continued his unbeaten summer, winning in a time of 13.18.
Nottingham's European number one Andy Turner finished fifth, posting a mark of 13.55 in his last race before this weekend's Aviva World trials in Birmingham.
Britain's Chris Tomlinson was fourth in the long jump with a distance of 7.92m. South Africa's Godfrey Mokoena won the event with a jump of 8.05m.
Fellow Brit Germaine Mason was sixth in the high jump, which was won by Jaroslav Baba of the Czech Republic in 2.26m.
Source: BBC SPORTS
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Triple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt blew away the field to win the 100m in style at the London Grand Prix.
Despite racing into a strong headwind, the Jamaican eased ahead of the field after 50m and strode clear before high-stepping over the line in 9.91 seconds.
His team-mate Yohan Blake was a distant second in 10.11, while Britain's Simeon Williamson finished in fourth with Jamaica's Asafa Powell back in sixth.
"I'm not invincible," Bolt told BBC Sport after the race.
Fainali leo huko Berlin... Bolt vs Gay Uwanja utakuwa hautoshi
Bolt sets record to win 100m gold
Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt set a new world record as he stormed to a stunning victory in the 100m at the World Championships in Berlin. The 22-year-old Jamaican recorded a time of 9.58 seconds to shave 0.11 off the mark he set last year when winning gold at the Beijing Olympics. American Tyson Gay was second in a time of 9.71, with Jamaica's Asafa Powell claiming bronze in 9.84.
Britain's Dwain Chambers came sixth in a season's best time of 10.00.
Bolt, who set three world records when winning his Olympic golds in Beijing last summer, served up another superlative display to enhance his reputation as the best sprinter of all time.
In the final, he powered out of the blocks at the first time of asking and took control of the race within the first 30m, the crowd going wild as he streaked across the line. Bolt's time represents the biggest increase in the record since electronic timing was introduced in 1968.
"I was ready, I was feeling good after the semi-finals," Bolt told BBC Sport.
"I knew it was going to be a great race and I came out and executed it. It's a great time. I did well and I feel good in myself."
Former world record holder Powell paid tribute to his compatriot, saying: "When I saw the time I had to try and catch him, but I couldn't."
Gay, who went into the final as the reigning world champion, has been troubled by a nagging groin pain and had to cut practice on his start.
"I ran the best I could but it was not enough," he said. "I believe I put in a championship performance and I am very pleased with the national record.
"I'm happy he ran 9.5 because I knew he could do it. I'm happy for him."
Chambers, back competing at the top level after serving a two-year ban for taking the designer steroid THG in 2003, said the final was a "great experience".
"It is hard to explain what it is like to go out there and stand on the line to compete with the best in the world," said the 31-year-old. "It does not get easier as you get older but it is worth it."
Earlier, there was controversy as Britain's Tyrone Edgar was disqualified from the semi-finals. After Bolt made the opening false start, Edgar was ruled to have transgressed the second time, although initial reaction times seemed to suggest that decision was harsh.
"I don't think it was a false start," said the 27-year-old Edgar, who was also disqualified at the London Grand Prix last month.
"To me it looked pretty good but there is nothing I can do. I am not going to argue the point. I am disappointed right now because I reckon I would have made the final."
2nd June 2008, 12:13 AM
Re: Bolt sets new 100m world record
2nd June 2008, 12:13 AM
re: August 2009: Bolt sets new 100m world record
re: August 2009: Bolt sets new 100m world record
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