Gatlin ran the 200 in 19.75 seconds to nudge out LaShawn Merritt by.04.
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Gatlin, already on the USA team as the 100 meters trials victor, clocked 20.32 seconds to finish behind Ameer Webb (20.27 seconds) in their race on a cool, rainy afternoon.
“My coaches said to get out and stay out”, Gatlin said in a post-race interview.
“I just went out there and did what I had to do”.
World record holder Aries Merritt narrowly missed the men’s 110m hurdles team, while Allyson Felix kept her hopes of a rare 200-400 Olympic double alive by advancing through the women’s 200m semi-finals. Bernard Lagat, left, celebrates his win in the finals of the men’s 5000-meter run with Paul Chelimo at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Saturday, July 9, 2016, in Eugene Ore.
Lagat had represented Kenya for his first two Olympic teams and now will be going for a third Games with the U.S. This was my sixth Olympic trials and out of the six I’ve made five. “I knew Ameer was gonna run”.
Galen Rupp held the lead late but faded over the last 800 meters and finished ninth.
Merritt, less than a year removed from a kidney transplant, said his concerned doctors have suggested he steer clear of the August 5-21 Rio Olympics because of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
“I hit a lot of hurdles, like four and I’m not the type who hits the barrier, but it is what it is, ” he said.
Devon Allen won the event in 13.03 seconds from Ronnie Ash in second and Jeff Porter in third, a fraction ahead of Merritt.
Yet though the 30-year-old clocked his fastest time of the season – 13.22sec – it was not enough to earn him a top three berth and a ticket to Rio.
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Olympic silver medallist Will Claye overtook London triple jump gold medallist Christian Taylor with a big fifth-place jump of 17.65 metres as both advanced to Rio.
