Usain Bolt advances to 200m final with fastest time of the year

Usain Bolt advanced to the final for the 200 meters with the fastest time of the year and is one win away from his eighth Olympic gold medal.

Bolt ran 19.78 seconds, pushed all the way by Canada’s Andre de Grasse in the lane beside him, in the second of two semifinal heats at Rio. He earns an automatic place in Thursday’s final. De Grasse finished in 19.80 seconds to advance.

After winning the 100 meters to clinch his third consecutive Olympic title in that event, Bolt set his sights on a third straight sprint double and added another challenge: He wants to lower his world record in the process.

Bolt set the world record of 19.19 at the 2009 world championships in Berlin. He set the Olympic record in Beijing in 2008.