Though Rollins was unreachable, it came down to hundredths of seconds for the other two medals.
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Rollins was the clear victor in 12.48 though Castlin had a nervous wait before discovering she had sneaked bronze. Bolt believes his world record of 19.19sec is in jeopardy.
“It’s like a sisterhood”, said Rollins.
American LaShawn Merritt comfortably won the first heat in a time of 19.95sec.
Canada’s Melissa Bishop won her 800-metre heat with a time of 1:58.38. Yohan Blake clocked the second fastest time of 19.26sec, but that was five years ago before he was left hamstrung by a series of injuries.
The big guns came out for the second semi-final in which Bolt cruised past the finish line in 19.78s, followed closely by 100m bronze medalist De Grasse on 19.80s. De Grasse’s athletic pedigree is impeccable.
American Justin Gatlin has failed to qualify for the final.
Gatlin, who won 100m silver behind Bolt at the weekend, explained that he had not fully recovered from rolling his right ankle in late November. “I certainly believe so, but I know I have to execute right, run the corner well and just run a ideal race”, Bolt said, before underlining that he is well aware that he still has to run the race before he wins it. “I don’t know what he was trying to do but he’s a young kid, he’s great”.
Elaine Thompson got another sprint double for Jamaica. She blasted out of the blocks and never gave Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers a chance to catch her on the straightaway of the 200 meters.
“It’s my conclusion that today, this has been my last track (race) in my career”.
Timoshinina landed flat on her face and scored just 14.00 in the second round, missing out on qualification for the final by over 80 points.
Kenya’s iron grip on the men’s 3,000m steeplechase continued as 21-year-old Conseslus Kipruto triumphed in an Olympic record eight minutes 3.28 seconds.
Swimmers taken off flight: Two Olympic swimmers were taken off their flight from Brazil to the United States on Wednesday by local authorities amid an investigation into a reported robbery targeting Ryan Lochte and his teammates.
As much as winning his eighth Olympic gold medal, Bolt is aiming for a world record.
This year’s Olympics were meant to be about Gatlin giving Bolt his sternest test, in both the 100 and 200.
In the long jump, Bartoletta soared to a personal best 7.17m with her fifth jump to take gold, with defending champion Reese leaving it even later with a last-attempt 7.15m to snatch silver ahead of Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic.
Earlier in the evening, Ashton Eaton looks to lock up his second straight Olympic gold medal in the decathlon. That would be the 400, where four nights earlier, Merritt staggered across the line in third, almost a full second off of Wayde van Niekerk’s world-record pace.
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The one-woman track team from Russian Federation failed to get into medal contention.
