By Will Downing, Beijing
One of athletics’ nights to remember has seen Usain Bolt claim his third 100 metres World Championship title, edging out Justin Gatlin by a solitary hundredth-of-a-second – but Mark English and Thomas Barr both bowed out of their respective semi-finals.
Bolt had stumbled out of the blocks on the way to marginally winning his semi-final, almost a full fifth-of-a-second slower than the controversial twice-banned American’s winning time in his semi.
Gatlin has dominated the Diamond League season, and his 9.74 is the fastest time in the world this year.
In a strong field that also included Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Jimmy Vicaut, Gatlin looked to have had a slight upper hand with 30 metres to go, but Bolt’s famous surge would see him record his fastest time of the year, 9.79 in comparison to Gatlin’s 9.80, to secure a famous – and popular – victory.
Of all Bolt’s 100m successes, this was probably the toughest win yet.
The next great sprint rivalry might just have been born behind the great Jamaican meanwhile, with Canada’s Andre De Grasse and American Trayvon Bromell tying for bronze in 9.92 seconds.
The other illustrious names would find themselves run out.
World Universities champion Thomas Barr and twice European medallist Mark English both bowed out at the semi-final stage of the 400m hurdles and 800m respectively.
Both found themselves down the field at the final turn, but both could not be rescued by their well-known kicks.
Barr was sixth with two hurdles to go out in lane nine, and despite showing his usual late speed, would come fourth in his semi-final, automatically putting him as second and slowest fastest-loser, but would lose two further places as the semis progressed, knocking him out.
Boniface Tumuti of Kenya won Barr’s race in 48.29 seconds, with Kerron Clement of the USA second in 48.50 – both qualifying automatically for Tuesday’s final.
Barr’s time of 48.71 was marginally outside his national record of 48.65 – the second-fastest time recorded from that lane at a World Championships – but he will now focus on the 4x400m relay later this week.
The Waterford athlete said: “Unfortunately I’m out at the semi-finals of my first World Championships. It was a very tough race, I felt it was a good race.
“Coming onto the home straight, I could hear the Jamaican inside of me coming up on me but I knew I was somewhat in contention.
“As the stagger unwound fully then, I just didn’t have as much of a fast and aggressive kick as usual, but I had a much better race than yesterday.
“Running blind from lane 9 is so difficult.”
English meanwhile kept to his own pace in his 800m semi-final, meaning he was placed eighth and last at the bell, but began to pick competitors off in the final 200 metres.
His time of 1:45.55 only saw him finish fifth, with only the top two and two fastest losers qualifying for Tuesday’s final – but his mark was still faster than the time managed by David Rudisha in winning his semi, with English being the eighth-fastest overall.
Amel Tuka of Bosnia-Herzegovina won English’s race in 1:44.84, with Ferguson Rotich of Kenya second in 1:44.85.
The UCD AC athlete from Donegal said: “It doesn’t matter how quick you are in the first 600, it’s all about who finishes quicker so I just had to make sure I had enough steam left to pass them by.
“I tried to take the race on by the scruff of the neck yesterday and I could really feel the lactic over the last hundred metres.
“Having run that way was tactically good in the sense that I was able to position myself but I also cost myself a fast time by doing it.
“Today I decided I would treat it more like a Diamond League race and try and run as fast a time as possible.”
Jessica Ennis-Hill took advantage of Katarina Johnson-Thompson suffering three fouls and scoring no points in the long jump to rout the opposition in her comeback heptathlon.
The Olympic champion secured victory in London 2012 fashion by winning the 800m, coming 115 points clear of Athlone IT Indoor Grand Prix visitor Brianne Thiesen-Eaton of Canada, with Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece-Adminda third.
Joe Kovacs of the USA won the men’s shot putt, with Poland’s Pawel Fawdek retaining the men’s hammer crown.
Alex Wright’s first major international championship for Ireland ended early as he was disqualified just past the halfway mark in the men’s 20k walk at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
The 25-year-old London-born Leevale AC athlete, who finished 31st for Britain at the last Worlds in Moscow two years ago, was eliminated 50 minutes into the race after being penalised three times for losing contact with the ground.
Gold went to Miguel Angel Lopez of Spain, who completed the twenty kilometres in a personal best time of 1 hour, 19 minutes, 14 seconds – 15 seconds clear of much-supported home athlete Wang Zhen of China, with Ben Thorne third in 1:19:57, a new Canadian national record.
But he may find Canadian headlines hogged by 20-year-old De Grasse on a night where Bolt’s triumph made athletics feel good about itself again.