Justin Gatlin ruined Usain Bolt’s farewell party when the 35-year-old American won the world 100m title on Sunday (AEST), beating the Jamaican superstar into third and sparking a chorus of boos from a London crowd unhappy with his doping past.
What was expected to be a glorious celebration of the departure of the sport’s greatest showman turned into a condemnation of its biggest pantomime villain as Gatlin, twice banned for drug offences, rolled back the years to win a second world title 12 years after his first and 13 after claiming Olympic 100m gold.
As so often before, Bolt, 30, made a terrible start but this time he could not make it up as Christian Coleman, the 21-year-old American who beat him in the semi-finals, looked set for victory.
But Gatlin, who stumbled at the death to lose the 2015 world final by a hundredth of a second to Bolt, on this occasion timed his surge and dip to perfection to win in 9.92 seconds.
Coleman, who has run over 40 races this year but turned professional only a few weeks ago, took silver in 9.94. Bolt finished in 9.95.
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