Triple Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt's stirring anchor leg led Jamaica to the year's fastest 4x100 metres relay of 37.90 seconds at the Penn Relays on Saturday.
The gold-and-green clad Bolt blasted through the final 100 metres in an electronically timed 8.79 seconds, one of the fastest anchor legs ever, as the Jamaicans crushed two American teams to delight thousands of their cheering countrymen in the sold-out stadium.
"I told the guys to make sure I didn''t have to work, because I really didn't want to do much," Bolt, who outran American Ivory Williams, laughingly told reporters.
"I got the baton pretty much in front, so I wasn''t really worried about anything else."
Williams' USA Blue finished second in 38.33 seconds and USA Red was third in 38.50.
"We just had some bad handoffs," Williams said. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to pass him (Bolt) up, but I was trying."
The world record in the event is 37.10 seconds, set by a Bolt and Asafa Powell-led team at the 2008 Olympics. Powell anchored that team in 8.73 seconds.
The crowd of 54,310 was so loud cheering for Bolt, U.S. sprinter Miki Barber thought, "Is the president here?"
Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake and Marvin Anderson, all Bolt's Racers Track Club team mates, comprised the first three legs of Saturday's team.
"We've been doing baton changes for two weeks," Bolt, the world record holder at 100 and 200 metres, said. "We came here really focused and ready and we came out there and executed."
