As 50,000 spectators at the Rome Golden Gala voiced a collective gasp when the
result of Thursday night’s men’s 100 metres flashed up on the electronic
screen, the fastest man on the planet was left to reflect on only his third
ever 100m defeat in a race that he has completed.
After an excellent start, Bolt seemed unable to summon any power in his drive
phase and by 50 metres Gatlin, the American Olympic bronze medallist, had
already opened up clear daylight at the head of the field.
Bolt, who is always strongest in the latter part of his race, tried
desperately to claw his way back but just ran out of track, crossing the
line a hundredth of a second behind Gatlin, who maintained his unbeaten
start to the year with a winning time of 9.94 sec, helped by a slight
tailwind of +0.8m/s.
With the exception of the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, where Bolt was
disqualified for false-starting in the 100m final, the last time he tasted
defeat in a 100m race when he was beaten by American Tyson Gay in Stockholm
in 2010, though that was mitigated by a back injury that led him to cut his
season short.
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