Olympic champion Usain Bolt cruises to win in 100 meters at Festival of Excellence in Toronto

Bolt wins men’s 100 meters in Toronto

TORONTO — Usain Bolt was plenty good enough to win, even if he didn’t flash his world-record breaking form.

Bolt beat three Americans Thursday night to win the 100 meters at the Festival of Excellence meet.

The Olympic champion from Jamaica finished in 10.00 seconds under a dark sky and in a steady downpour at University of Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.

“It felt good,” Bolt said. “I think I should have done a little better. For me, it’s all right. I got through it injury free so that’s a good thing.”

American Shawn Crawford was second in 10.25, while Ivory Williams finished third in 10.28. Bernard Williams was fourth, crossing the line in 10.47.

Crawford, who won gold in the 200 meters at the 2004 Athens Olympics, finished second to Bolt in the 200 meters in Beijing. Williams won gold in the 400-meter relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Bolt won three golds in Beijing last year.

He said Thursday night he held back a little because of the cool and damp conditions. Temperatures were in the 60s.

“That’s the right thing to do,” Bolt said. “You’ve got to be very careful because you have a lot of running to do and you can’t manage to get injured at this time of the season.”

Bolt’s most recent race was also held in wet weather. In May, running on a temporary street track in Manchester, England, he ran the world’s fastest 150 meters in 14.35 seconds, breaking Canadian Donovan Bailey’s 12-year-old record of 14.99 in the seldom-run distance.

“I’m kind of used to running in the rain,” Bolt said. “I prefer not to run in the rain.”

Thursday’s race was delayed by two false starts, with Jamaican Marvin Anderson disqualified on the second.

“It threw me off a little bit but not much,” Bolt said. “I’ve been there before.”

A sold-out, pro-Jamaican crowd cheered Bolt’s every move. He rounded the track twice after his win, once slapping hands with fans along the fence, the second time with children who had been competing earlier in the day.

Last August, Bolt became the first man to win gold in the 100, 200 and 400-meter relay in world record times in the same Olympiad. He won the 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, took the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds and anchored the relay team, which won in 37.10 seconds.

This was Bolt’s second race since a car accident in April, when he crashed his BMW into a ditch along a highway. Bolt required surgery on his left foot after stepping onto thorns while getting out of the wreckage.

Earlier in the meet, reigning Olympic 400 meter champion LaShawn Merritt cruised to victory in a time of 44.86.

“I pretty much cleared the field,” Merritt said. “I was coming down the home stretch and saw that I was in the lead. In a week and a half I have my nationals. I wanted to come in and get a good race, I got a good race.”

The U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held in Eugene, Ore., from June 25-28.

The Festival of Excellence featured 50 Olympians but Bolt was the headliner, reportedly earning more than $250,000 Canadian for his appearance in front of 5,835 fans.

American Bryan Clay, gold medal winner in the decathlon in Beijing, competed in a three-event format including pole vault, 100-meter hurdles and the 400 meters. Clay won the event over American Jake Arnold, scoring 2,739 points.

In the women’s 100 meter hurdles, Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, the bronze medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, narrowly beat out Canadian rival Perdita Felicien, crossing the line in 12.96 seconds. Both runners are from the suburban Toronto area.