It was pure Bolt: He was seemingly at total ease throughout the race, building even greater anticipation over his attempts here at building upon an Olympic record unmatched by any sprinter in the sport’s history.
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Akani Simbine, running in the eighth and final heat, took the honours in 10:14.
The roar was huge as soon as the Jamaican turned up on the track.
The crowd had been hard to calm and silence ahead of the start of races so far, but when Bolt put his fingers to his lips for silence, all went quiet.
“It wasn’t the best start, I feel kind of sluggish”.
He recovered from a hamstring injury last month by winning the 200m at the Anniversary Games in London.
He batted back questions about his leg, saying he was “good”.
Justin Gatlin has clocked the fastest time of the year – 9.80 seconds – but it would be a surprise if Bolt fails to outpace the American in his Olympic swansong.
Bolt, who turns 30 on the final day of the Games, is aiming high in what he has said will be his final Olympics, bidding to continue his streak of gold in the men’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, the unprecedented “triple-triple”. He shot out of the blocks and only let up at the very end for the best time of all racers.
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Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake won their heats to advance to the 100m semi-finals, while Nickel Ashmeade copped the second automatic qualification spot in his heat. Kemarley Brown, formerly of Jamaica, now representing Bahrain, won his heat in 10.13 seconds.
