ATHLETICS/GOLDEN SPIKE MEETING:USAIN BOLT recorded the slowest 100m time of his senior career in Ostrava yesterday, running 10.04 seconds into a -0.8m/s headwind, but was left scratching his head as to the cause.

“I had some very good starts on the warm-up track so I have no explanation. My coach will see the race on YouTube and will comment about what I must do before Rome. I had no feeling at all in the race. I went out of the blocks badly and then nothing came. The false start did not affect me, that’s no excuse.”

The last time the Jamaican failed to break 10 seconds was in Toronto, in 2009, in a rainstorm. Although Bolt comfortably beat the rest of the field he was clearly disappointed with the result.

The 25-year-old, who has promised a record-breaking summer, had run 9.82 seconds – the fastest time in the world this year – in Kingston earlier this month, but his performance in Ostrava will leave his rivals room to hope the triple world record holder may yet be beatable.

Bolt was not the only one who felt aggrieved. Dwain Chambers had hoped to be pulled along to an Olympic A qualifying time of 10.18secs, but was frustrated to finish fifth in 10.28secs. That Kim Collins, the 36-year-old, finished second spoke volumes about the race, although the St Kitts and Nevis man by rights should not have been allowed to compete after he false started but South Africa’s Simon Magakwe was disqualified instead.

More than 21,000 enthusiastic fans packed out the Mestsky stadium in Ostrava and it was clear who they had come to see – their faces adorned with the Jamaican flag while Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff played on the air.

Britain’s Tiffany Porter equalled her season’s best time of 12.65 seconds, setting a new meeting record as she obliterated a world-class field in the 100m hurdles that included world silver medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, and Americans Queen Harrison and two-times world indoor champion Lolo Jones.