American Sprinter Justin Gatlin clocked an impressive 9.83 seconds in the heats of the competitive 100 metres at the World Championships in Beijing.
Gatlin’s introduction was greeted with audible jeers despite the sprinter making headlines for doping on two previous occasions. He looked mightily impressive in qualifying fastest for the semi-finals at the Bird’s Nest stadium on Sunday.
It was faster than Usain Bolt has run all year and suggests he is in shape to go faster than his world-leading personal best of 9.74 secs come the business end of the competition. Bolt’s reception, back at the scene of his first triple Olympic triumph, was unsurprisingly in complete contrast as he lapped up the applause, but he could not match his rival’s time. The Jamaican won his heat in 9.96 seconds, albeit into a slight head wind. There was mixed news for the Great Britain contingent, though.
Chijindu Ujah looked comfortable as he clocked 10.05 to go through second in his heat, while Richard Kilty, the world and European indoor champion, progressed as a fastest loser in 10.12. But James Dasaolu was made to pay for a colossal and inexplicable error of judgement.
In the lead metres from the line he looked around and lost all momentum, coming home fourth in his heat in 10.13 to miss out on the semis by one hundredth of a second.