After Jamaican women come out on top at worlds, eyes turn back to Usain Bolt for 200 meters

Bolt-Gay showdown a no-go after American pulls out

BERLIN — The duel between Jamaica and the United States for sprint supremacy is starting to look like another rout.

Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser gave Jamaica its second sprint gold Monday, leading a 1-2 Jamaican run which again left the Americans wondering how they will ever keep those sleek yellow jerseys behind them.

It becomes even more difficult Tuesday after defending champion Tyson Gay was forced to pull out of the 200 with a groin injury. If there was one man whom triple world record-holder Usain Bolt feared over the distance, it was the lightning fast but injury-prone American.

Looking sullen at Monday’s ceremony next to the beaming and showboating Bolt, Gay already knew part two of “Das Duell” was not going to happen.

“Rather than risk further injury, I’ve decided that I will not compete in tomorrow’s first round of the 200,” Gay said.

If anything he wants to be fit to lead the U.S. relay team next weekend, at which stage another whitewash might be looming.

“I want to help our relay as best I can,” Gay said.

It needs all the help it can get.

The domination is likely to be as strong on the women’s side after Jamaican women had three of the top four spots in the 100 Monday.

Behind Fraser’s winning time of 10.73, Kerron Stewart ran 10.75, well ahead of Carmelita Jeter, the only American to keep the Jamaicans from sweeping by finishing in 10.90. Defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown was fourth in 10.95.

With her Jamaican record, Fraser joined Christine Arron of France as the third-best runner in history, behind the late Florence Griffith-Joyner and the disgraced Marion Jones.

Jamaica leads the United States 2-0 in sprinting events with four to come. Every day, it looks more like a repeat of Beijing when the end result was 5-0, relays included.

Unlike Bolt, Fraser is not going for a sprint double.

“I came second at the trials, and I wanted to do the double here,” Fraser said. “But my coach said that because of the rough season I had, it wouldn’t make any sense to do the 200.”

If the Jamaicans did the predictable again, there was one major upset at the championships late Monday.

Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva lost her five-year stranglehold on the pole vault, failing to clear any height.

Isinbayeva had won all major titles since the 2004 Athens Games and saw a difficult year hit an unexpected low when the bar fell down on her at 4.80 meters. As the Russian held her head in despair, Anna Rogowska of Poland, who beat her at a meet in London last month, celebrated unexpected gold. She had cleared 4.75 meters.

“I have no proper explanation,” Isinbayeva said. “Everything was perfect. I was confident. … I did not expect it.”

In stark contrast, Kenenisa Bekele did as expected with all the flair of an invincible runner, winning his fourth consecutive men’s 10,000 meters.

Unlike Isinbayeva, Bekele didn’t use 10 fingers to hide his face. He was holding up just one to show he remains the undisputed No. 1 when entering the final straight, having used his famed final kick to distance Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea by about 20 meters. As if he had been out on a jog, the Ethiopian immediately went on a victory lap with his teammates.

Equaling the four world titles of Haile Gebrselassie, Bekele is challenging him ever more as Africa’s greatest ever distance runner. He will decide later whether to go for a long-distance double.

On Tuesday, there are finals in the men’s triple jump, steeplechase and 400 hurdles, and the women’s javelin and 400.