At the Golden Gala meet in Rome last week, the world of mens sprinting had a major upset when the Olympic champion Usain Bolt was beaten in the 100m. Despite getting a good start, Bolt was unable to pull away from the field in the second half and Justin Gatlin from the US won the race in a time of 9.94 seconds. Bolt finished just one hundredth of a second behind in 9.95 seconds.
In a post race interview, Bolt said...."The fact I got a perfect start threw me off. After five steps in I stumbled. I have to do more strength work, I guess. My legs did not feel the energy. At 50 metres I had some problems, but the rest of my race was not bad. You learn more from losing. You can't win every race in your career. The season is still very early. I am not surprised. I have time – I'm not worried."
Justin Gatlin is a controversial figure in the world of athletics having served a four year ban between 2006 and 2010 after testing positive for a banned substance. He had previously won the Olympic title in 2004 and was the bronze medalist in the 2012 London Games.
Fast forward to last Saturday to a race in Rabat, Morocco and Gatlin is beaten by the European champion Christophe Lemaitre. Despite getting a poor start, the Frenchman powered back in the last third of the race to win in a time of 9.98 seconds. (Wind +2.9m/s). Gatlin finished second in 10.02.
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