BEIJING (AP) – After two years of uncertainty, Usain Bolt produced the biggest clutch performance of his career Sunday to beat Justin Gatlin with a lunge at the line in the 100-meter final at the world championships.
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In the second of three semifinals, Gatlin will face compatriot Mike Rodgers – another American to have served a doping ban – after the 30-year-old was second behind Bolt in 9.97.
But the 33-year-old American blasted home in the fastest time of 9.83 seconds, albeit with a wind speed of 2.1m/s, just over the legal limit.
The 33-year-old, who completed the 100m and 200m sprint double at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, declined to stoke the fires of any rivalry and told BBC Sport that it will be an “honour” to contest Bolt’s title.
“I would have liked more competitive races”, Bolt said.
Usain Bolt nearly gave the world a heart attack in the semifinal race for the 100m at the Beijing World Championships this morning when he nearly fell at the start of the race.
The 28-year-old ambled out of the blocks before working through the field courtesy of his familiar loping stride and felt he over-thought his work out of the blocks.
“It wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be, but I wasn’t expecting the first one to be great”, Bolt said after only his second sub-10s run in an injury-hit year so far. “Overall it was okay”. I wanted to save as much energy as possible.
This was his fastest time of the year and the win took his tally of.individual global titles to 10. While Gatlin has said that he doesn’t care if he’s portrayed as the bad guy, Bolt has been keen to shake off the tag of the sport’s savior.
The 2007 world champion will be up against Jamaica’s former world record-holder Asafa Powell, who also missed the 2013 event after testing positive for a banned stimulant.
He entered the championships with the year’s fastest 100 and 200 meters, clocking 9.74 and 19.57 seconds, both lifetime bests despite his age.
Farah, who came through the youth and junior ranks alongside Bolt, has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent months, with his American coach Alberto Salazar accused of violating several anti-doping rules.
Gatlin had no such complaints after his run. He’ll go for a third straight 5,000-meter title next Saturday.
“It means a lot because there’s sometimes certain things that happen out of your control”.
“I’ve only not worn the bow one time and she’s like, ‘I couldn’t even see you”.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie became the youngest victor of the men’s marathon and the first Eritrean athlete to win a gold medal. Instead, world-record holder Dennis Kimetto and Kenyan teammate Wilson Kipsang dropped out of the race while Mark Korir finished 22nd. “So it’s not only just on me because I cannot do it by myself”. It cost me the race. At the last two world championships and the London Olympics, there were a combined four sub-10 times in Round 1.
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Saturday’s other gold medal was won by Germany’s Christina Schwanitz in the women’s shot put.
