INQUIRER Sports

NEW YORK--Jamaica's Usain Bolt set a men's 100m world record of 9.72sec at the Reebok Grand Prix athletics meeting here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old broke the previous record of 9.74 set by compatriot Asafa Powell in Rieti, Italy, on September 9, 2007.

With a favorable wind of 1.7m/sec, Bolt finished ahead of 100m and 200m World Champion Tyson Gay of the United States (9.85) and American Darvis Patton (10.07).

Bolt, the 200m world championships silver medallist, had signalled his arrival on the 100m scene in this Olympic year in early May, when he clocked 9.76--then the second-fastest time in history--at a meeting in Jamaica.

The race was the first showdown at 100m between Bolt and Gay.

On Saturday, the tall Jamaican shrugged off the poor weather that wreaked havoc on the schedule.

Organizers delayed the start of the meet for an hour, and rain prompted another 45-minute delay once proceedings had begun.