Video - Usain Bolt struggles in New York
Usain Bolt was pushed hard in winning the 200 metres at Saturday's adidas Grand Prix in New York, as the World Championships draw closer.
Usain Bolt did little to answer the question marks over his form and fitness ahead of August's IAAF World Championships, as he was pushed hard in winning the 200 metres at Saturday's adidas Grand Prix in New York.
The double Olympic champion was made to work down the straight at the Diamond League meeting on Randall's Island, before just edging victory over Zharnel Hughes in a time of 20.29 seconds.
Anguillian Hughes had looked at one stage to be capable of pulling off a shock, before coming home in 20.32secs, while Bolt's fellow Jamaican, Julian Forte, was back in third (20.46secs).
Although not formally part of the Diamond League schedule, Saturday's performance is unlikely to have gone unnoticed by Bolt's sprint rival, Justin Gatlin.
The American is in flying form heading into August's Chinese showpiece, and has run the fastest time of the year so far over both 100m (9.74secs) and 200m (19.68secs).
The pair are scheduled to go head-to-head in Beijing, with Bolt having defended accusations that he is "afraid" of facing Gatlin in the run up to Saturday's meet.
Bolt only ran three races throughout an injury-hit 2014 season that saw him suffer with foot and hamstring problems.
He won the 200m in Ostrava at last month's Golden Spike meeting, but clocked a relatively slow 20.13secs.
"I wasn't too happy with the time today," said Bolt after Saturday's run. "But training has been going well and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."