It was his third 100m world championships gold.
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The usually laid back and jovial Bolt had looked more nervy than usual, but showed his class after an air of tension descended on the stadium where he won three Olympic golds seven years ago.
But Gatlin seemed to start his lean an instant too early, and Bolt was able to power across the finish line in an edge too narrow for the naked eye.
China’s only sub-10 man Su Bingtian failed to improve on his semi-final time of 9.99sec, finishing ninth in 10.06sec.
Bolt in contrast had been anything but convincing in his semi. Many felt it was Gatlin’s time, and that Bolt would be unable to match strides with the drug-tainted American.
Justin Gatlin, the favorite for this year’s championships, finished the sprint with a time of 9.80 seconds while Usain Bolt managed the same in 9.79 seconds.
Indeed Bolt’s good start was every bit as crucial as his finish, as Gatlin, unbeaten in 27 of his previous races, was typically swift out of blocks. When he was introduced, Bolt covered his eyes with his hands before opening them and smiling; Gatlin shot imaginary bullets with his fingers before roaring into the camera.
With all three competitors pretty even in the 800, the biggest rivalry at this year’s world championships could well be for silver.
That was American athletics great Michael Johnson’s view of Bolt’s latest 100 meters world championship victory in Beijing on Sunday.
“This means a lot because I’ve been struggling all season”, Bolt told BBC Sport immediately after the race. But after I joined him around 80m all I kept telling myself was run through the line. Gatlin came close to halting the fantastic Bolt streak, but the mere presence of “The Man” created panic.
“I feel good, on the last five metres I kind of stumbled and it cost me my momentum”, said Gatlin, adding that he got nabbed by the great Usain.
Usain Bolt pipped Justin Gatlin by 1/100th of a second to win the race in 9.79 seconds. Of course everybody wants to come out here and win.
It was a fittingly dramatic end to one of the most talked about 100m events in years. He first made his mark on the sport, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the Bird’s Nest, with his then-World and Olympic Record time of 9.69.
Indeed, you might have wondered who finished second behind Bolt and in front of Bromell and de Grasse in the biggest race of this athletics summer. The American ran the fastest semi in a time of 9.77s, among the five fastest in the world this year.
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He also insisted he did not feel the pressure to win for his sport, only to continue his own global domination.
