- Gatlin wins world championship gold for the USA in 9.92sec
- Christian Coleman takes silver and Bolt has to settle for bronze
As a full moon rose over the London Stadium, athletics’ greatest pantomime villain, Justin Gatlin, sank his teeth into the carefully laid plans for Usain Bolt’s retirement party. And then, in the last desperate steps of the compelling world championships 100m final, brutally ripped them apart. The 35-year-old American, who was banned twice early in his career for doping offenses, is not necessarily the champion the sport wants. But given its problems, it is one that many will feel it deserves.
When it flashed on the scoreboard that Gatlin had taken gold in 9.92sec – 0.02 clear of the young American Christian Coleman, who took silver, and Bolt who claimed bronze a further 0.01sec behind – most of the 56,000 crowd in the stadium went silent before they collectively booed in disgust. A couple of years ago, Gatlin described himself as “the Batman of the track – a vigilante”. But few in the London Stadium were celebrating the rising again of this self-styled Dark Knight.
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