100m race

Gatlin dashes Bolt's farewell 100m title dream

gatlin-bolt US athlete Justin Gatlin (R) embraces Jamaica's Usain Bolt after winning the final of the men's 100m athletics event at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium in London | AFP

Justin Gatlin, the 2005 world champion, staged by far the biggest surprise of the London world championships as he edged defending champion Usain Bolt to take the world title in London on Saturday.

Bolt, running his last world championships, finished with a bronze medal but was treated by the capacity crowd and the organisers as a winner, receiving undimishing cheers and applause from the adoring spectators and doing the lap of honour as if he had won, Xinhua reported.

"The place is wonderful and I appreciated this crowd so much. It is just one of those things, thank you to London for all your love and appreciation," said the Jamaican "lightning".

Gatlin became the most subdued world champion when he came back from behind to win in 9.92 seconds, leaving his younger American compatriot Christian Coleman to the second place.

His victory was even booed by the partisan spectators.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.

Related Reading