Usain Bolt/Courtesy of Wikipedia

Competing in what was billed as the fastest 100-meter field ever assembled, Bolt rallied in the final 20 meters to defeat countryman Asafa Powell with a winning time of 9.77.

While the effort was .08 seconds slower than then 9.69 world mark Bolt set in the Beijing Olympics, the runner known as “Lightning Bolt” ran into a 1.3-meter per-second headwind and in 59-degree temperatures.

Powell finished second in 9.83, with Nesha Carter completed a Jamaican in third place at 10.07. American Tyson Gay, who was scheduled to compete, withdrew because of nagging leg injury.

Entering the meet, Bolt, Powell and Gay had combined run the top-10 fastest 100 meters in history.

A sellout crowd of 47,000 attended the meet at the King Baudouin Stadium.

Bolt, who won the 100 and 200 meters and was part of the 4×100 victorious relay in Beijing, all in world records, will soon return to Jamaica where huge post-Olympic celebrations are expected.

Usain Bolt/Courtesy of Wikipedia

Usain Bolt may have been the only athlete who upstaged swimmer Michael Phelps in the recent Beijing Olympics. The Jamaican sprinter surprisingly set two individual world records in the 100 and 200 meters and was part of a 4×100 relay world record Jamaican team.

But the aftermath of Bolt’s stunning efforts will last only about 10 seconds more this year.

Running in his last race of the season, Bolt will lead what is being billed as the fastest field ever assembled in the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels in Belgium on Friday night.

The 100-meter field will include former world record-holder Asafa Powell, also of Jamaica, and American Tyson Gay. Powell and Gay share the second-fastest time ever for 100 meters. Bolt set the world record of 9.69 in Beijing.

The three runners combined have the 10 fastest times ever recorded for 100 meters.