First-up Nitro Series proves a bolter

Usain Bolt did everything short of sword-fighting in his sandals to entertain a crowd of more than 7000 fans who gathered to see the sport’s greatest showman

Are you not entertained?

Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium bears little resemblance to the Coliseum, but the world’s greatest sprinter Usain Bolt did everything short of sword-fighting in his sandals to entertain a crowd of more than 7000 fans who gathered to see the sport’s greatest showman on Saturday night.

That might not seem like a massive crowd (1000 short of a sellout) but it is the biggest gathering of athletics fans in Melbourne for more than a decade, since the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which shows how far the sport has sunk in that time.

Back in the 1990s (so last century), almost 15,000 gathered at the old Olympic Park to see Cathy Freeman break 50 seconds for the first time in the 400m. But most of the current generation of athletes are too young to remember that.

Athletics Australia determined last year, when it could not attract a broadcast partner for the Olympic trials, that drastic action was needed to change the perception that athletics was dull and could not bring in an audience outside of a Games.

The outcome of that experience is the Nitro Series, which made its debut on Saturday night and was broadcast live on the Seven Network in most cities, although not in Melbourne due to Seven’s AFL commitments.

The first step was to create a program that would be athletics’ answer to T20 cricket, compact and action-packed.

They went with a team format that would put the athletes on the arena for the duration of the competition, whether competing or supporting their teammates, and which would allow them to show more personality and engage with the crowd.

Then they devised some funky events to intrigue and surprise, like mixed relays, target javelin and an elimination mile (the last athlete was eliminated on each lap), all in the name of entertainment.

The grand experiment was unveiled on Saturday night, featuring six teams including a young Australian team and the Bolt All Stars, and was acclaimed, cautiously, as a success.

The telecast won its timeslot in Sydney and attracted 500,000 viewers nationwide.

Thousands of children were clearly having a ball as they interacted with the athletes.

After Genevieve LaCaze and Luke Mathews combined to win the three-minute run (each ran as far as they could for three minutes) for the Australian team, they created a succession of breaking waves along the fence next to the track as kids raced to get ahead of them and press the flesh or seek a selfie.

Mathews. 21, who made his Olympic debut last year, had never seen anything like it at athletics in Australia.

“This crowd right now, it’s almost what it was like when Usain ran at the Olympics,’’ Mathews exclaimed.

“It’s bloody incredible, incredible. This is the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Lakeside.’’

Bolt, who ran a leg of the mixed 4x100m relay, believes in the concept enough to have bought a financial stake in it and he intends to spend his early retirement years (after August’s world championships) developing Nitro into a global series.

He described Saturday night’s debut as “a good start’’ but acknowledged that the format would need tweaking as the organisers worked out what worked and what didn’t.

The elimination mile is arguably the most entertaining event for spectators, although brutal on the athletes who have to sprint for the line at the end of each lap if they are not to be cut.

Even sprinter Bolt acknowledged that the mile race was “just spectacular’’.

“That’s what I expected from this and over time we will figure out ways to make it better, perfect it, and the support was OK and next weekend we are looking forward to making it even better.

“It’s a great event and it’s the first time. We’ll find kinks but it’s a good start for me.’’

The formula for the field events still needs some work. The javelin target area was too small and the pole vault and long jump rules should be further simplified to avoid confusion.

Some athletes called for a better balance between traditional and “novelty’’ events, but all were enthusiastic about the overall concept, which will return on Thursday and Saturday night. The final night is already close to a sellout.

One of the best outcomes of the first meet was the performance of some of Australia’s young guns, including 16-year-old Australian schoolgirl Riley Day, who is not much older than the kids hanging over the fence but she fronted up to race Bolt in the mixed relay and was not intimidated.

“He was talking smack, he was like ‘We’re going to win, we’re going to win’ and I was like ‘I’m not taking this’,’’ Day said afterwards.

She also pushed US Olympic sprinter Jenna Prandini to the finish in the 150m race.

Another teenager, Perth’s national junior 1500m champion Matt Ramsden, who was recruited to Bolt’s team, upset triple Olympian Jeff Riseley in the elimination mile.

Athletics Australia’s aim with Nitro is to secure the future of the sport and that seemed to be happening both on and off the track.

Meanwhile, former Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson made her long-awaited return to the track at an indoor meet in Karlsruhe, Germany, where she finished a strong third in a world-class field for the 60m hurdles.

World record-holder Kendra Harrison won in 7.76 sec from world championships medallist Cindy Roleder (7.90sec) and Pearson, whose 7.91 sec was not far off her personal best of 7.73 sec.