Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin made it safely into the semi-finals of the men’s 100m at the US athletics championships, the first step to a potential world title showdown with Usain Bolt.
On a windy Thursday evening on the Drake University track, Gay and Gatlin focused on getting through to the next round.
Gay clocked 10.28 seconds running into a headwind of 1.6m/sec for the fourth-fastest time in the first round and Gatlin settling for the ninth-fastest time of 10.37 in a heat run into a headwind of 2.9m/sec.
Dentarius Locke, of Florida State University, notched the fastest time, winning his heat in 10.19sec, with Jeff Demps clocked in the same time in finishing second in that heat.
“I feel good,” said Gay, who won three gold medals at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka but hasn’t claimed gold in a major international competition since as he battled a series of injuries.
“I didn’t really have a great start. I wanted to get the kinks out, get the nerves out.”
Gay’s 9.86sec in the 100m at Kingston on May 4 is the fastest time in the world this year and the US veteran is hoping now that he’s finally healthy he can challenge six-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt and Bolt’s fellow Jamaican sprinters at the World Championships in Moscow on August 10-18.
Gatlin, who handed Bolt a rare defeat in the 100m at the Rome Diamond League meeting on June 6, has the same goal in mind.
He, too, said making it safely through to Friday’s semi-finals — to be followed later Friday by the final — was the priority.
“I felt good, just get out, get the first one out. There was a little hurricane out there, the headwind,” said Gatlin, who finished second in his heat.
“It felt good to come out here, shake the legs out a little bit and get ready for the next race. I just wanted to make it into the next round.”
Gatlin, who has served a drugs ban since winning Olympic 100m gold in 2004, said he couldn’t afford to get caught up in the publicity that attended his win over Bolt.
“It’s something I have to take within stride and move on to the next thing,” he said.
Gay, Gatlin safely through in 100m
