Another day, another miracle. Usain Bolt continued his habit of doing extraordinary things with the air of a man in search of a hammock on the porch, but this time he had to get his hands dirty.

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try,” he said after dismantling another world record in jaw-dropping fashion. “If Queen Elizabeth knighted me, then I would get the title Sir Usain Bolt. That would be nice.”

It was a year to the day since Bolt broke Michael Johnson’s 200 metres record in the Olympic final. He has been surfing a wave of goodwill since, smashing records and crashing cars, but if his destruction of his 100 metres record on Sunday was stunning, this appeared more of a challenge.

Before the race Bolt exuded all the tension of a beach holiday, donning a T-shirt with the slogan, “Ich bin ein Berlino”, in homage to the oversized foam mascot that has been terrorising these World Championships, and laughing. “Come and get me,” he mouthed into a camera.

However, for 19.19sec, he worked like never before, shaving a huge 0.11sec off the landmark he had set in the Bird’s Nest. Johnson had previewed the race by saying Bolt was tired, but lethargy has never looked so impressive. “I definitely showed people that my world records in Beijing were not a joke,” he said. “I was trying my heart out and I don’t think I’m going to be able to walk for a day.”

Bolt, 23 today, is motivated by titles, which is why his most seismic feats have come at the leading championships. In Beijing he took the greatest show-cum-corporate carve-up on earth and distilled it into a one-man circus. Here, he was the undisputed star turn. Johnson, the former fantasy figure of the 200 metres, claimed that his own dominance had a numbing effect on the public.

“If I won a race, nobody was standing up and cheering,” he said. “I couldn’t win but I could lose.” The peculiarity of Bolt is people love his dominance. No-contests have become the hottest ticket and, with Tyson Gay, the hitherto fastest man over the distance this year, withdrawing earlier in the week, the outcome was never in doubt. All that mattered was the time.

He got off to a flying start. He had passed Wallace Spearmon, his American friend, within five strides. Nobody else was involved. Alonso Edward, of Panama, was second in 19.81sec. Spearmon third, in 19.85. Two others ran below 20 seconds. Nobody cared.

Incredibly, there was a slight headwind, so with benign conditions might this have been a near mythical sub 19-seconds run? “I don’t know the limit in the 200 metres,” Bolt said. “But I don’t put limits on myself.” He prepared by sitting in his rooms playing video games. He said he wanted to celebrate by going to sleep, but he will be back in action tomorrow in the 4x100 metres relay final.

“I am ready for another world record there,” he said. “But I don’t know if my team-mates are.” The question then is where he goes afterwards. He believes man can lower the 100 metres mark to 9.4sec and, given that he said he is not in as good condition as last year, he is probably right.

The 200 metres has always been Bolt’s baby. It is the event he has worked at for years. He fancied the 100 metres, but Glen Mills, his ursine coach, told him he would only allow him to do so if he broke the Jamaican record for the 200 metres. Hence, he clocked 19.75sec in 2007, claiming Don Quarrie’s 36-year-old record, and the stage was set for sporting history.

The accolades here have been plentiful. Darvis Patton, last in the 100 metres said there were no words to describe him, but tried anyway: “It’s like he’s created a game person. He’s like a cheat code. That’s how good he is.”