Under huge pressure, and certainly not a favorite coming into the event, Bolt won in 9.79 seconds – besting rival Justin Gatlin (9.80s) In doing so Bolt became the third sprinter – after Americans Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene – to win the world title on three occasions.
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He was disqualified from the shorter race at the Deagu world championships in 2011, however, and flirted with a similar mishap when he stumbled out of the blocks in the semi-finals earlier today.
But in an eerily uncanny mirror image of the semi-finals, Gatlin stumbled and lost form as he strove to hold Bolt off to the line.
Going even just before of the finish line, Bolt glanced left to Gatlin in Lane 7 and threw his weight forward in a dip of desperation. Gatlin finished just 100th of a second behind the Jamaican, with a time of 9.80.
Gatlin’s fellow American Trayvon Bromell and Canadian Andre de Grassse shared the bronze medal position after both timing 9.92sec.
For two years, American Justin Gatlin has been the undisputed king of sprinting as well as athletics’ most controversial character because of his doping past. He boasted the five fastest times in the world this year – each of them quicker than it took to secure gold here.
Usain Bolt reaffirmed his status as athletics’ biggest superstar by beating Justin Gatlin in Beijing to claim a third World Championships 100 metres title.
But she, like Bolt, bought it home, overtaking eventual silver medallist Brianne Theisen Eaton, who leads this year’s rankings with 6808 in the final straight to win the race and take the gold with a total of 6669 points.
The victory thus only builds the legend of Bolt for this was doubtless the most unexpected win for the man who has won more gold than any other.
“This win means a lot because I’ve been struggling all season and I was having problems with my start”. Usain’s time of 9.79 seconds is the best of the season. In the first event of the day, Baljinder Singh was initially adjudged to have finished at 12th with a timing of 1:21:44 which would have been his personal best effort.
There was less joviality when Gatlin was asked for a reaction to whether Bolt’s victory was significant for the sport. “It’s a big deal”, Bolt Said after the win. All I had to do was put together a good race.
“I really don’t know what happened, perhaps I was thinking about the race too much”.
“It is certainly the hardest of my career”, said Bolt at the post-race press conference.
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Johnson-Thompson, an expert long jumper, looked like the strongest challenger for Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
