Later on in the programme, in heat seven, Bolt eased to a winning time of 10.07s despite a slow start, making it through to the semifinals as the fourth-fastest runner.
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Bolt, who has had a disappointing year of competition (at least by Usain Bolt standards), ran through the heat easily in front of a stadium filled with tens of thousands of fans. He trailed heading into the final 25 meters, then glanced to his left and measured up Andrew Fisher, a Jamaican who competes for Bahrain and was a body length ahead of him, three lanes over.
He won Heat 7 at 10.07 seconds, pulling in front at the midpoint of the race and breezing into Sunday’s (August 14) semi-finals.
As well as Gatlin, Trayvon Bromell and Marvin Bracy also made it through for the United States.
The fastest man of the day -and, in fact, of the year-Gatlin recorded a 10.01 in the second heat of the afternoon in Rio.
Canada’s Andre De Grasse, the 2015 Olympic 100m bronze medalist, and Jamaica’s Yohan Blake, the 2012 Olympic 100m silver medalist, were among the other sprinters who won 100m heats. The semi-finals and final take place tomorrow evening with the final at 5.25am on Monday.
Bolt is bidding for his third straight title in the 100 and his third straight sprint triple.
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“Now it’s all about execution and getting it right when it comes to the final”. “I’m not usually running this early in the morning”, Bolt told reporters after the race that began at 12:42 p.m. local time in warm sunshine.
