Usain Bolt fires, All-Stars triumph

Usain Bolt fires, All-Stars triumph
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Highlights

Melbourne: Usain Bolt fired his team of international \'All Stars\' to victory in the inaugural Nitro Athletics Series in Melbourne on Saturday, capping the glitzy event with a dominant win in the 4x100m relay to pip hosts Australia in the final standings.

Melbourne: Usain Bolt fired his team of international 'All Stars' to victory in the inaugural Nitro Athletics Series in Melbourne on Saturday, capping the glitzy event with a dominant win in the 4x100m relay to pip hosts Australia in the final standings.

Running the second leg of the relay, the eight-times Olympic gold medal-winner took the baton from fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell before Jeneba Tarmoh and Natasha Morrison powered to the finish in front of a sell-out crowd at Lakeside Stadium.

Having run in only the relays in the opening two instalments of the three-night series, Bolt also took his first individual run of the year, burning away from a modest field for an easy win in the 150m sprint ahead of New Zealander Joseph Millar.

The 'All-Stars' finished the team-based meeting with 3,040 points, edging Australia by 77 points, with Bolt playing a key role as both his team's linchpin and the event's 'chief entertainment officer'.

IAAF president Sebastian Coe, battling to lift the sport's profile outside of the Olympics and repair its reputation after a series of major doping and corruption scandals in recent years, was impressed.

The three nights of the Series drew over 23,000 spectators. It was not without its teething problems.

Organisers were red-faced during Thursday's second instalment when the meeting referee botched the score in the final relay and awarded the night to Australia rather than the 'All-Stars', leaving an incredulous Bolt crying foul. The error was corrected, subsequently.

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