PARIS (AP):

Forget for a moment the laid-back, fun-loving Usain Bolt. Even when he's winning, the six-time Olympic champion is finding fault with his running these days.

The Jamaican sprinter only gave himself a grade of 7 out of 10 after running the fastest 200 metres of the season Saturday with a time of 19.73 seconds at the Areva Diamond League meet in Paris.

Bolt shaved 0.01 second off the previous best time this year, set by American sprinter Tyson Gay at the US trials last month.

powerful

"I think I could have run the last 50 after the turn much better," Bolt said. "I didn't come in the straight as powerful as I used to. The last 30 metres, I was kind of, I won't say struggling, but my technique wasn't perfect."

Fellow Jamaican Warren Weir was second in 19.92, ahead of former European champion Christophe Lemaitre in 20.07.

"The time, I think I could have done better," Bolt said. "I wanted to do better, but it's just one of those things you never get but you wish for sometimes."

Bolt broke the meet record of 20.01, set by Michael Johnson in 1990. But he said he still has plenty to work on ahead of the World Championships in August.

"First, I think I should have run faster on the curve," he said. "My first 50 was great. But then, for some strange reason, my last 50 wasn't so great. So I just need to figure what went wrong and then work on it."

Bolt will next compete in the 100 and 4x100 relay in London on July 26-27 in a one-year anniversary event for the 2012 Olympics. That will be his final major meeting before the worlds, which start on August 10.

world-leading 43.96

In other events at the Areva meet, the ninth leg in the Diamond League circuit, Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada clocked a world-leading 43.96 in the men's 400, beating Americans LaShawn Merritt (44.09) and Tony McQuay (44.84).

In the women's 100m, Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce held off a late charge from Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria to win by one hundredth of a second in 10.92. US champion English Gardner finished a distant fifth in 11.13.

Jamaica's national champion, Damar Forbes, won the long jump with a leap of 8.11m beating Britain's Chris Tomlinson, 8.08m, and Louis Tsatoumas of Greece, 8.02m.

The next leg Diamond League meet is in Monaco on July 19.