World 100-metre champion Yohan Blake opened his season with a 400m personal best on Saturday at the Camperdown Classic while 100m world-record holder Usain Bolt skipped the Jamaican meet.

Blake’s time of 46.49 seconds was .2 of a second behind winner Allodin Fothergill, a member of Jamaica’s third-place 4x400m team at last year’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Blake, who ran very easily for the first 200 metres, faded in the homestretch with Fothergill moving past in the last 10 metres for the victory.

“Alodin Fothergill is a 400m man so he got the better of me,” Blake said. “I could have run faster if I had gotten out better. Today was just my first 400m so if I have one more, I will go faster.

“It’s a wonderful feeling and I ran a personal best, which means the season is going quite well.”

Blake warned his sprint rivals that he is “much, much stronger this year and faster. Running 46.4 in my first outing is wonderful.”

Just as Blake skipped the 100, training partner and reigning Olympic champion Bolt passed on the entire meet after saying for more than a month that he planned to compete.

Among those who bothered to run the men’s 100m in the event, former Jamaican national champion Oshane Bailey won in 10.49 seconds.