Stephen Chernin / AP

Jamaica's Usain Bolt kneels by the scoreboard showing his new world record of 9.72 seconds in the 100 meters at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on Saturday night.

This marked the first time the record had been set in the United States since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when Donovan Bailey ran a 9.84.

A lot is often said about Olympic trials in the United States — that given the depth of the roster, it can be an even better meet than the actual Olympics. But suddenly the highlight of the pre-Olympic calendar could now be Jamaican nationals at the end of June, when Bolt and Powell should square off in the 100. Powell, who set the mark of 9.74 last September in Italy, is overcoming a chest injury but is expected to be healthy soon.

Also at Jamaican nationals will be Veronica Campbell-Brown, who won the women’s 100 on Saturday in 10.91, the fastest time of 2008.

The fastest time ever, though, now belongs to Bolt, and it made a prophet out of Gay, who predicted that with himself, Bolt and Powell lining up against each other over these next few months, the record could go down, down, down.

The conditions were right.

The start of the meet was delayed by an hour because of threatening storms in the area. Then, about halfway though, a brief thunderstorm hit, cooling the track and leaving it with just the faintest sheen of glistening moisture before the last, most-anticipated, race of the night. The tailwind was measured at 1.7 meters-per-second, .3 under the limit at which a record can be set.

“To be honest, I knew the track was fast,” Gay said. “I knew a 9.7 was possible.”

After his victory, Bolt paraded around with the Jamaican flag, accepted a hug from Gay, soaked in some more applause.

“I always perform well in front of the Jamaican fans. They’re so loud,” he said.

Race organizers, knowing they’d get a big Jamaican fanbase out at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, had scheduled a post-meet reggae concert for the crowd of about 6,000.

And what a perfect choice that was on this history making night.

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