Bolt wins 200 meters; American women take relay gold

Daegu, South Korea – Jamaica's Usain Bolt made sure he'd have a chance at the gold medal in the men's 200 final at the 2011 world track and field championships.

Bolt, disqualified from the final of the 100 meters last Sunday after a false start, was slowest out of the blocks in Saturday's 200 meter race but still powered through the finish line first to claim his second straight world title.

It wasn't a world record time, but it was close.

Bolt finished Saturday in 19.40 seconds, the fourth-fastest in history. He set the mark two years ago in Berlin with a time of 19.19 and also has the second fastest time at 19.30 when he captured the Olympic crown three years ago in Beijing.

American Walter Dix, the bronze medal winner in Beijing, finished second on Saturday at 19.70 and France's Christophe Lemaitre was third with a time of 19.80 seconds.

It was the United States over Jamaica in the women's 4x400-meter relay. The American squad of Sanya Richards-Ross, Allyson Felix, Jessica Beard and Francena McCorory finished in a time of three minutes, 18.09 seconds to give the U.S. its third straight world title in the event.

Jamaica took silver with a time of 3:18.71, followed by Russia.

Australia's Sally Pearson won the women's 100 meter hurdles, crossing the wire in a time of 12.28 seconds to set a world championships record. Americans Danielle Carruthers and Dawn Harper were next, given the identical time of 12.47 seconds.

Asbel Kiprop of Kenya won gold in the men's 1,500 meters, finishing just ahead of countrymate Silas Kiplagat. American Matthew Centrowitz picked up the bronze.

Germany's Matthias De Zordo won the men's javelin throw and Russia's Anna Chicherova captured the women's high jump. Chicherova ended the reign of Croatia's Blanka Vlasic, who had won the last two world titles. Both ended with the same height, but Vlasic lost on the countback with more early misses.

The men's 50-kilometer race walk gold went to Russia's Sergey Bakulin.