Rome (AFP) – American sprint star Justin Gatlin was made to work hard as he notched up a record fifth win at the Rome Diamond League meet on Thursday.
Racing in lane three, Gatlin, who has served two doping bans, had to rely on a savage dip at the line for a winning season’s best time of 9.93 seconds in clement conditions with a tailwind speed of +1.0m/s.
American teammate Ameer Webb, who had earlier won the 200m in 20.04sec, finished second with a massive personal best of 9.94, while Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut also dipped under the 10sec mark with 9.99 in third.
Gatlin has form in the Italian capital, last year tying Maurice Greene’s record of four wins at the Golden Gala. It was in the same stadium in June 2013 that Gatlin trumped Bolt, and in 2015 the American clocked 9.75sec to better the Jamaican’s stadium record.
Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100m champion who was latterly banned for doping between 2006 and 2010, clocked a wind-assisted 9.88sec at Eugene last week.
The world number one took the tape ahead of Jamaican Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay and will doubtless seek to extend his form heading into the Rio Games.
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