Come 9.15pm Beijing time on Sunday night when the long-running dispute over who is the world’s fastest man is finally settled, no one will remember that Justin Gatlin ran the quickest time in a world championship heat. Or that he sauntered into the semi-finals in 9.83sec, despite easing down and looking around after 60m. The controversial American knows that first performance here will have a short shelf-life. Even so, he still hopes it will have planted enough doubts in Usain Bolt’s mind to tap away at his impenetrable confidence before Sunday’s semi-finals and finals.
The run certainly did enough to sway the oddsmakers. They reported strong support for Bolt before the world championships but now make Gatlin the favourite. It might be unwise to get too carried away, however. At London 2012 Bolt ran 10.09 in his heat while Gatlin recorded 9.97. Yet when it came to the crunch Bolt rediscovered his familiar lightning snap, running away with another gold medal in an Olympic record of 9.63. His camp are convinced he is in that kind of form again.
Bolt is yet to show it, although after his usual raggedy start he looked comfortable enough as he come home in 9.96. His time was the sixth quickest in the heats, with the 20-year-old American Trayvon Bromell (9.91), the Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut (9.92) and another Jamaican Asafa Powell (9.95) all going faster and Mike Rodgers, Femi Ogunode and Andre De Grasse also going under 10 seconds.
But it was Gatlin who was the most impressive of all. To put his time into context, it was 0.01 faster than the 9.84 world record Donovan Bailey ran to win 100m gold at the Atlanta Olympics, but he was keen to stress that he had run well within himself. “It felt good, it felt like I dominated the first couple of steps,” he said. “I just wanted to set the tone to the semis, and then work the finals.
“You know, it’s not about me, it’s about track-and-field, it’s about the 100m. To be able to come here and make one of the most exciting races with Usain Bolt, it’s an honour.”
If Bolt was worried, he did not let it show. “My run wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be, but I wasn’t expecting the first one to be great. I wasn’t trying to run fast. I wanted to save as much energy as possible. I am in wonderful shape.”
Two Britons, CJ Ujah – who finished second to Bromell in 10.05 – and Richard Kilty, who scrapped in as a fastest loser in 10.12 after coming fourth in his heat, will be in Sunday’s semi-finals. Ujah said he was sluggish and Kilty was also happy to survive after admitting he was rusty coming back from a hamstring injury. “I was stood on the startline and I had it in my mind wondering if it’s going to be all right running full out and thankfully it was fine,” he said.
But the European champion, James Dasaolu, is out after appearing to deliberately ease up after 70 metres, during which time he went from first to fourth, and missed out on a fastest-loser spot by one-hundredth of a second. Dasaolu, who ran 10.13, said: “ I just took my eye off where I was and I saw the guys come past me in the last 20m.”
Britain’s Nick Miller was the first to qualify for Sunday’s men’s hammer final with a throw of 77.42m, but Nick Dry missed out after finishing 15th overall with a throw of 73.87m.
There was joy, too, for Niall Flannery, who qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles, in a season’s best 48.90.
Britain’s Laura Weightman and Laura Muir are also safely through to the semi-finals of the women’s 1500m, although Weightman cut her face and her shoulder after tripping up and falling on her face when she crossed the line. But in the men’s 800m Kyle Langford looked nowhere near his best, finishing seventh in his heat, while Michael Rimmer also missed out after finishing fourth in his heat behind David Rudisha.
There was a surprise winner of the men’s marathon, with the Eritrean Ghirmay Ghebreslassie becoming his country’s first world championship gold medallist. Ghebreslassie – who is officially 19 although some believe he is 25 – had a modest personal best of 2hr 07min 47sec but he handled the heat and the smog better than his more established rivals to win in 2:12.27.
Ethiopia’s Yemane Tsegay took second with Uganda’s Solomon Mutai taking bronze. The defending champion, Stephen Kiprotich, came sixth, while the world record holder, Dennis Kimetto, and the double London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang, dropped out at 30km.
