Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell easily reached the 100m semi-finals at Jamaica’s World Championships trials on Thursday.Olympic champion Bolt won in 10.00 seconds and Powell clocked 10.02, with Yohan Blake qualifying automatically after winning the 2012 trials.
Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin also made it through the opening 100m round at the United States trials.
Gay, the year’s fastest man, won his heat in 10.28secs while Gatlin finished behind Charles Silmon in 10.37.
“I didn’t really have a great start,” said former world champion Gay. “But I wanted to the get the kinks out, get the nerves out.”
Olympic bronze medallist Gatlin, who surprised Bolt in Rome, was not concerned about a fast time, especially with a strong head wind.
“There was a little hurricane out there, the head wind, but it felt good to come out here and shake the legs out a little bit,” said the 2004 Olympic 100m gold medallist.
World record holder and Olympic champion Bolt made a strong start and took control of his heat by the 40m mark.
Powell, who had previously failed to complete a competitive race this season because of hamstring problems, also looked comfortable.
“Happy to complete my first race in a year,” said Powell. “It was quite easy.”
(Source: Agencies)
