London, Aug 13 (IANS): : Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt suffered a injury midway into his anchor leg of the men's 4x100 meters relay and pulled out of the last race of career at the World Athletics Championships here.

Bolt, who had suffered his first 100m defeat in nine years on August 5, apparently had a pulled a muscle in his leg only 30 meters into the race on Saturday night. He limped to the finish line in agony, Xinhua news agency reported.

Bolt had only taken a few strides when he appeared to suffer an injury to his left leg and fell to the track in pain. He stayed down for a couple of minutes before standing up and walking to the finish line.

Britain won the gold in 37.47 seconds, the US took silver in 37.52 and Japan was third in 38.04.

China, the silver medalist two years ago, finished fourth in 38.34.

The British team of Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake broke a European record that had stood since 1999, Efe news reported.

Bolt, who had announced prior to the World Athletics Championships that it would be his last major competition, is one of the all-time legends of track and field.

He first burst on the scene with his performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he set new world records in winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter finals.

Bolt then lost virtually no race of consequence for nine years, the lone exception coming when he was disqualified for a false start at the 100-meter final at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

But time finally caught up with the 30-year-old Jamaican at his final event, in which he finished third in the 100 meters last Saturday and then was unable to finish his final race.