Six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt produced a season’s best to win the 100m on his return to the Olympic Stadium for the Anniversary Games.
A year on from the London 2012 opening ceremony, Bolt paid his own homage to last year’s Olympics by clinching the blue riband event in 9.85 seconds.
Before a sell-out crowd, the Jamaican ran nine hundredths of a second quicker than he had previously done this year.
Britain’s James Dasaolu pulled out injured before the race.
Bolt got off to a lacklustre start, but the Olympic champion overpowered his rivals in the closing stages to dip across the line three hundredths of a second ahead of America’s Michael Rodgers in second.
Jamaica’s Nesta Carter was third in 9.99 while Dwain Chambers, the only Briton remaining in the race following Dasaolu’s withdrawal, was fifth in 10.10.
Bolt, who will look to regain the world title in Moscow next month, was happy to lap up the adulation from 60,000 fans.
“It’s so wonderful to compete in London, it’s a brilliant experience to be here again,” he said.
But the world record holder admitted he had work to do ahead of the World Championships.
“My start was poor and I need to work on that,” he added. “To make a perfect race I need to make a good start and just get into the race. Hopefully I can make a good time at Moscow and continue to do well.”
The stadium was hosting an evening of athletics for the first time since last summer, when the likes of Bolt, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill whipped the crowd into a frenzy during an unforgettable Olympic Games.
Much has changed in this corner of east London since that glorious sporting summer. The Olympic Park now resembles a building site, and gone is the Olympic flame, but Friday night’s capacity crowd rekindled the spirit of the Games.
For all of the nostalgia, however, it was effectively the first night of a two-day Diamond League meeting, and the last track and field event before the World Championships.
