Rio de Janeiro: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt safely negotiated the first round of the Olympic men’s 100m on Saturday in the first step on his quest for an unprecedented “treble treble”.
Bolt, seeking an third consecutive Olympic title in the blue riband event, clocked 10.07 seconds at the Olympic Stadium. The 30-year-old world record holder, greeted with acclaim by the large vociferous crowd, will also bid to defend his 200m and 4x100m relay golds for the third time later in the week.
Justin Gatlin romped into the semi-finals of the 100m as he warmed up for the latest chapter of his rivalry with Bolt.
The 34-year-old 2004 Olympic champion, the fastest man in the world this year, clocked a comfortable 10.01sec to easily win his heat.
The semifinals of the 100m take place on Sunday with the final schedued for 10.25 local time (6.55 am IST Monday).
Harting keeps discus gold in the family
Germany’s Christoph Harting saved his best for last to win gold in the men’s discus. Harting, whose brother and defending champion Robert failed to qualify for the finals after sustaining a strained back, managed a personal best of 68.37 metres on his sixth and final attempt.
Poland’s Piotr Malachowski took silver with 67.55m and Harting’s teammate Daniel Jasinski bronze (67.05)
Meanwhile, Allyson Felix may not be competing in her favourite race at the Rio Games, but the US track star insisted she was wholly focused on adding 400m gold to her impressive haul of major championship medals. Felix, the reigning 200m Olympic champion, finished fourth in that discipline at the US trials, missing out on an Olympic berth to Jenna Prandini by one-hundredth of a second.
The loss ended Felix’s hopes of becoming only the third woman in history to win both the 400m and 200m at the same Olympics after Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the US in 1984 and Marie-Jose Perec of France in 1996.
But the reigning world 400m champion said she was just happy to get on the blue track of the Olympic Stadium after coasting through her first round outing. “I feel comfortable and happy to get that run under my belt,” she said. “There’s always a lot of waiting around so once you finally get moving it feels good,” she added.
The 30-year-old, with four Olympic golds and two silvers, and nine world golds, three silvers and a bronze to her name, was struggling at the US trials where she missed out on qualification for her signature event with a leg injury. Likely rivals moving into Sunday’s semi-finals, with the final slated for Monday, include teammate Natasha Hastings.
