Eugene (USA): Justin Gatlin stayed on course for a sprint double World Championships challenge on Saturday, while Allyson Felix has a choice to make after a storming 400m triumph at the US athletics championships. Gatlin, a polarising figure who has served two doping bans only to emerge as the dominant sprinter early in the 2015 season, produced a seemingly effortless 19.92sec to cruise into the 200m semifinals.
Gatlin won his heat ahead of training partner Isiah Young, whose 19.99sec made him the only other sub-20 runner in the heats.“I felt comfortable,” said Gatlin, who opted out of the 100m won by Tyson Gay on Friday because his 2014 Diamond League title gives him a World Championships wild card in that event. “Take it easy, rest right now and get ready for the battle tomorrow,” he added of his mindset for the heats, with semifinals and the final set for laster on Sunday.
With Gay and 100m runner-up Trayvon Bromell sitting out the 200m, Dedric Dukes clocked the third-fastest time of the morning, 20.15, with Terrel Cotton fourth-fastest in 20.16. Gatlin, who owns the top times in the world this year in the 100m (9.74) and 200m (19.68), has made no bones about his desire to challenge Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt in both at the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing.
But Felix, the Olympic 200m champion who has a wild card into the Beijing 200m, says the World Championships schedule won’t let her attempt a 200m-400m double as she did in 2011, even though she is now eligible for both. Felix, who won 2011 world silver in the 400m, ran down Natasha Hastings in the final 100 meters to win in 50.19.
