Campbell-Brown tops Felix in 200 in 21.98 seconds at Adidas Grand Prix

Campbell-Brown tops Felix in 200

NEW YORK — Usain Bolt leaned forward, watching intently as countrywoman Veronica Campbell-Brown’s lead shrunk step by step.

When the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist held off rival Allyson Felix to win the 200 meters at Saturday’s Adidas Grand Prix, Bolt clapped in approval. Then Campbell-Brown fell to the track, grabbing her left hamstring, and for a moment it looked as though the sport had lost another star sprinter.

It was just a cramp, and Campbell-Brown comfortably did her victory lap in front of a crowd full of raucous Jamaican fans.

They didn’t get to see Bolt, who first set the world record in the 100 here two years ago but pulled out with an Achilles’ tendon injury. They still got a sizzling show from Campbell-Brown and Felix, the three-time defending world champion from Santa Clarita, Calif.

Campbell-Brown’s time of 21.98 seconds was the best in the world this year. She said she has never run so fast this early in the season, and it was just the fourth time she has broken 22 seconds.

“She’s a strong finisher,” Campbell-Brown said of Felix. “My strongest part is the beginning of the race, so I know I have to get out and keep going, and that’s what I do today.”

Felix finished in 22.02.

“Coming off the curve, I felt good,” she said. “I just needed a little bit better position coming off.”

Campbell-Brown said she expected to be fine. She felt some discomfort in her hamstring before the race but ignored it. Then it started to bother her coming off the curve.

“My mindset was, I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep going,” she said.

Bolt and Tyson Gay, who had hoped to compete here but is hindered by a tight hamstring, both attended the meet. In their absence, the 100 was won by Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago, who’s the answer to a good sports trivia question: Who won the silver medal in a distant second when Bolt surged to the world record in the 100 at the Beijing Olympics?

Asked if he’s treated like an Olympic silver medalist, Thompson acknowledged, “Not really.”

“Last year I didn’t have such a good year,” he said.

Thompson freely concedes that he’s not yet in the class of the world’s top three sprinters: Bolt, Gay and Asafa Powell. He hopes Saturday’s victory, in a wind-aided 9.89 seconds, makes a statement that he’s on top of the list of their challengers. The meet on Randall’s Island, east of upper Manhattan, is part of the sport’s new elite series, the Diamond League.

“Everyone who pretty much comes in line after those guys was here,” he said.

American Lolo Jones posted the best time in the world this year in winning the women’s 100 hurdles in 12.55.

“I’m thrilled with this race because it was a very tough field,” she said. “I really feel like this was the Olympic final for London 2012, plus or minus one or two people.”

The Olympic champions swept the two women’s distance events. Nancy Langat of Kenya was first in the 1,500 and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia won the 5,000.