Only Usain Bolt Could Win Like This

Wait—it gets even better than this.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six years it should come as no surprise that Usain Bolt again won gold, this time in the 100-meter at the 14th World Athletics Championships in Moscow over the weekend.

That brings his total gold count in international competition to 31, with seven silver and zero bronze.

In case you couldn’t tell—this guy doesn’t really do third place. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008 Bolt took gold in the 100-meter, 200-meter and the 4×100-meter relay. He did it again four years later in London.

At the London Olympics in 2012 Bolt sprinted into history as the first athlete in history to ever repeat in the 200 and the first ever to win back-to-back golds in the 100 and 200.

By now he’s had an awful lot of practice at winning—so much so that it was only a matter of time before the track and field gods [bet you didn’t even know there were track and field gods!] finally aligned themselves with the Jamaican Lighting Bolt.

And they have aligned themselves with him:

This is just too epic for words.

See? Bolt ran a season’s best 9.77 in the 100-meter in Moscow…in a downpour…with lightning bolts flashing in the distance behind the confines of the stadium…and the race was uphill…both ways.

Okay that last part isn’t entirely true, but everything else is. In a sport where athletes are constantly falling to positive drug tests, Bolt continues to amaze as the preeminent face of track and field in the world today. Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up disappointing Jamaica, and ultimately the world, by falling victim to the lure of PEDs.

Moving on…

Obviously Bolt wasn’t the only athlete in action last week. Here are some other sights from around the World Championships:

Floating ballerinas.

They travel in groups of three.

Dancers perform on harnesses high above the ground at Luzhnicki Stadium during the opening ceremony. Is this a little preview of what we can expect that the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi?

Run towards the light!

Athletes from the United States, Russia, Nigeria, Moldova and Lithuania compete in an early heat at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Pole vault is one of many sports that seems to defy the laws of physics.

Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia performs a practice vault prior to the women’s pole vault qualifiers on Sunday.

A blonde who isn’t afraid to get dirty.

Russian beauty Darya Klishina competes in the women’s long jump final.

Gotta appreciate the angle on this shot.

Competitors hit the pool for the heats in Women’s 300 metros steeplechase on Day One.

That’s one way to celebrate!

Great Britain’s Mo Farah celebrates winning gold in the men’s 10,000-meters. That’s a lot of meters.

Everyone who lost to Great Britain’s Mo Farah.

Athletes from around the world compete in the men’s 10,000-meters final. That’s still a lot of meters.

That looks like it hurts.

Finland’s Sandra Eriksson defies gravity with her mid-air split in the women’s long jump qualifiers on Day One of competition.

The Kremlin may be the most architecturally stunning building on earth.

North Korea’s Hye-Songp Kim, Ethiopia’s Meseret Hailu and Great Britain’s Susan Partridge round a corner in Red Square during the Women’s Marathon.

And that, as they say, is that! The next time we see Russia hosting an international event of this magnitude, it’s going to be a lot colder.