Usain Bolt once again produced his best when it mattered most to retain his 100 metres world title and reassert his status as the number one sprinter on the planet at a rocking Bird’s Nest Stadium on Sunday night.
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Bolt was trailing for nearly all of Sunday’s race, but with gritted teeth, the two-time Olympic champion clawed back into contention and made his giant stride count to win in 9.79 seconds -.01 seconds over the American veteran.
Gatlin appeared to run well within himself in producing a run of 9.77 in the second semi-final to justify his standing with the bookmakers, but lost form at the vital time in the final in finishing second in 9.80secs.
The 29-year-old will go for successive world championship dash sweeps in Beijing, the location of his breakthrough triumph on the 2008 Olympics, with the 200 metres last scheduled for Thursday.
Usain Bolt celebrates the way Usain Bolt always does.
The two favourites were separated by just a single lane, and both had solid starts, with Gatlin leading Bolt entering the final 40 metres.
Bolt was trailing for nearly all the race, the biggest showdown in the sport in years. Trayvon Bromell of the US and Andre De Grasse of Canada, who compete collegiately for Baylor and USC, respectively, finished tied for third.
The American was neck and neck with Bolt after 80m but seemed to loose his balance as he approached the finish line leaving Bolt to savor yet another big-stage victory.
Bingtian Su could only finish eighth in 10.06, but he – more even than Bolt – had raised the Bird’s Nest to a pitch of excitement earlier in qualifying in such dramatic icrcumstances and equalling his national record.
“It definitely means a lot as I have been struggling all season and it took me a while to figure out what was the problem and it’s all about getting it together, so I am happy”, Bolt told the BBC. His chilled antics before race starts, even Olympic finals, had endeared him to his global audience. “I look up to them”, he said. And this time, it was Gatlin who tripped in the race. “Let people do their job, I came out here to run”, he said. But Gatlin was seen as the clear favorite.
After becoming a mother past year, there also was plenty of doubt in the heptathlon about Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Ennis-Hill, who gained the world title in Berlin in 2009, completed with 6,669 factors. O’Dayne Richards of Jamaica took bronze with 21.69.
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China’s Zhen Wang matched the previous day’s achievement of team mate Lijiao Gong in the women’s shot put by taking silver in the 20km walk after being overhauled by Miguel Angel Lopez in the final kilometre.
