Olympic champion Usain Bolt sent out a strong warning to his challengers by running a world-leading time of 19.73 seconds over 200 metres to win the Paris Diamond League event on Saturday.
The world record holder eased to the finish line to better American Tyson Gay's leading mark by 0.01 seconds, just one month before the world championships in Moscow.
Bolt shattered Michael Johnson's 23-year-old meeting record of 20.01secs to win in 19.73secs, finishing comfortably ahead of fellow Jamaican Warren Weir.
If Bolt is ahead after the turn there is no way anyone will catch him and so it proved, with Weir fading in the last 30 metres to clock 19.92secs.
Home favourite Christophe Lemaitre was third in a season's best of 20.07secs.
'It was good,' said Bolt. 'I was really happy with how I ran today. It was good enough for me.'
It may sound disrespectful to assert that Bolt, a six-time Olympic champion, needed to put on a show in Paris tonight, but he has certainly had a sluggish start to the season by his own impressive standards.
He duly produced the goods, but the long look he gave the clock as he approached the line told its own story.
Bolt was introduced to the crowd in a Formula One car last month in Oslo; tonight it was a slightly shabbier Citroen 2CV.
His task, though, was the same: run a time quick enough to quieten the two Americans, Gay and Justin Gatlin, who are breathing down his neck.
Winning does not seem to be enough these days, given the top sprinters tend to avoid racing each other outside of the major championships.
It is the times that matter, as Bolt proved once again tonight.
Bolt said it was a 'seven out of 10 run, maybe six-and-a-half' and said he was particularly unhappy with his last 50 metres.
'Personally I think I should have run quicker,' he said. 'But it's enough to win races against a tough field. This is one of the best fields [in the world], subtracting Tyson Gay.
'I should have done better, but the positive thing is I know what to work on. It's all positive, really.'
Bolt will now move on to London for two weeks of 'intense work' ahead of his appearance at the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium at the end of July.
He insisted he felt no extra pressure after the recent times posted by Gatlin and Gay and maintained he will peak this season in time for the World Championships.
The Jamaican, however, would not be drawn on whether it would be a good thing for him to beat Gatlin, an athlete who has failed two drug tests and served a four-year ban, to world gold.
The American has already taken Bolt's scalp this season, beating him over 100m in Rome last month.
Bolt said: 'For me it's just that I lost a 100m race. A lot of people are making a big deal of it, but it doesn't really bother me.
'All I have to do is beat whoever is in the lane next to me. As long as I'm in great shape I will get it right. I'm a championship performer.'
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