Jamaica's Usain Bolt maintained his title as "world's fastest man" on Sunday, narrowly beating American rival Justin Gatlin in the 100-metres final at the 2015 Athletics World Championships in Beijing.
Bolt finished in 9.79 seconds, far from his best but enough to beat Gatlin by one-10th of a second for the gold.
The 29-year-old athletics superstar had failed to break 9.90 in either his heats run on Saturday or in the earlier semi-final on Sunday, saving his stand-out performance for the highly anticipated showdown with Gatlin, twice suspended for doping.
The race had taken on symbolic significance, with sprinting widely tainted by doping in recent years. Besides Gatlin, big names of the sport like Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, who both finished in an even 10 seconds in sixth and seventh, were among those in the field on Sunday to have served IAAF suspensions.
Bolt has never failed a test or faced serious doping accusations.
The towering Jamaican was the clear crowd favourite, greeted with massive cheers at China’s Bird’s Nest National Stadium, the same in which he took the world by storm at the 2008 Olympics with a first treble gold – he repeated the feat in London in 2012.
Sunday’s run was a season best for the world-record holder, who has battled injuries and seen his times slip since the 2012 London Olympics. Bolt said he will retire after the 2016 Rio Olympics next summer. Until then he will be able to bask in the title of world champion and a still unbeaten record in the finals at world championship or Olympic races.
In their first meeting over 100m since the last final in the Moscow worlds in 2013 when Gatlin also came in second to Bolt, the American actually suffered from a slower start than the Jamaican.
Gatlin, a renowned fast starter who hasn’t lost over 100m or 200m since 2013 and has set personal bests for both distances – 9.74 and 19.57 seconds – this season, pegged equal with Bolt out of the blocks.
Sandwiched between Mike Rodgers in lane four and Tyson Gay in six, Bolt, head down for the first 40 metres, moved into his “drive phase”, unbuckling his long, powerful legs, but didn’t dare look across the field until a savage dip at the line saw him win a memorable race.
Following Bolt and Gatlin were 20-year-old rising stars Trayvon Bromell of the US and Andre De Grasse of Canada, both running a 9.91 and being awarded bronze medals. American veteran Mike Rodgers rounded out the top five at 9.94.
France’s Jimmy Vicaut (10.00) and China’s Bingtian Su (10.06) brought up the rear.
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