Bolt makes a splash with 100m win in rainy Toronto

Olympic champion Usain Bolt sloshed his way to an impressive win, albeit in an unimpressive time, in his first major 100m test of the season at the rain-soaked Toronto Festival of Excellence on Thursday.

Running in a driving downpour in front of an enthusiastic but drenched crowd, Bolt splashed home in 10 seconds flat, well off his world record 9.69 set at last summer's Beijing Olympics.

After two false starts, Bolt trailed badly out of the blocks but rocketed away from the field after 50 metres to cross nearly 10 metres clear of American Shawn Crawford, silver medallist behind the Jamaican in the 200 metres at the Beijing Olympics.

"It (the false starts) threw me off a little bit but not much," Bolt told reporters.

Crawford, who won 200m gold at the 2004 Athens Games, ran 10.25 to nose out compatriot Ivory Williams on 10.28.

Bolt lit up a miserable night for the near capacity crowd of 5,835, some paying a hefty $250 to catch a glimpse of the man who claimed gold in the 100 and 200 metres in world-record times at Beijing, then helped the Jamaican 4x100m relay team to another gold medal.