Usain Bolt shocked the world, as he produced his season-best time of 9.79 seconds to beat rival Justin Gatlin and win the men’s 100 meters final on Sunday in the World Championships in Beijing. Gatlin finished just 100th of a second behind the Jamaican, with a time of 9.80. “I understand why,” said Bolt afterwards, referring to the importance of beating Gatlin, “but I did it for myself,” added the Jamaican.
Fellow American Trayvon Bromell and Canadian Andre De Grasse shared bronze in third after finishing in exactly the same time (9.92sec).
Bolt had a better start than the American, but Gatlin caught up only to stumble near the 70-meter mark leaving Bolt the chance to take advantage and produce a stunning display. Bolt, the reigning Olympic champion has now not been beaten in the 100m or 200m in six major world championships going back to 2007, although he was disqualified from the shorter race at the Deagu world championships in 2011.
The 29-year-old will go for successive world championship sprint sweeps in Beijing when he competes in the 200 meters final on Thursday.
Earlier on in the day, Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill completed an incredible comeback by winning her second world heptathlon title on Sunday. Ennis-Hill, returning to the sport after giving birth last year, was all but gift-wrapped the gold medal after fellow Brit Katarina Johnson-Thompson failed to post a mark in the long jump. The 29-year strolled to victory in the 800 meters race to clinch her gold medal.
Poland’s Pawel Fajdek continued his dominance of the men’s hammer in 2015, with two throws over 80 meters as he retained his world title in style on Sunday afternoon. American Joe Kovacs won the men’s shot put with a best of 21.93 meters to dash David Storl’s bid for a hat-trick of world titles, the German claiming silver.
