The Golden Gala Diamond League event was hyped as the first
major 100 metres race of the season with Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt both featuring
on the start line. It may have only been Bolt’s second race, and he may stillbe recovering from injury, but Gatlin’s victory – by a 0.01 margin – wasanother impressive performance for the American who has started the 2013 seasonextremely brightly.
Gatlin has now won three 100 metre races in Diamond League
competition this season. He ran 9.97 seconds in Doha, Qatar and then 9.88 in
Oregon, USA last weekend.
His form has looked good and he appears to have regained a
lot of the power from his prime in the period when he won the 2004 Athens
Olympics 100 metres. That was the height of Gatlin’s career before he was hit
with a four-year ban following a positive drugs test.
The 31-year old made a significant comeback at last summer’s
London 2012 Olympics running an impressive 9.79 seconds to win the Bronze medal
behind Jamaicans Bolt and Yohan Blake. Several people are already tipping
Gatlin as a significant challenger to Bolt in the World Championships in Moscow
this August.
Gatlin doesn’t have the raw speed to seriously challengeBolt or even Blake in terms of pure performance. However, he has always shown
the sort of tough character and clutch performance to race at his very best in
the big events. This makes him a serious threat to Bolt and Blake.
Gatlin will also know that at the age of 31, his
opportunities to win another title or even more medals are growing slimmer. The
form and fitness he has shown this season could be a sign that 2013 is the best
shot he has at competing at a major championship.
Bolt’s camp won’t and shouldn’t be too alarmed. The 26-year
old is still clearly building himself up after an early season hamstring
injury. It looked like a sprinter in very early season form. The fact that he
only lost by 0.01 seconds despite the relative race practice that he and Gatlin
have had should be encouraging.
It feels like just about everyone is waiting for the
six-time Olympic champion to fall off of his pedestal. Many felt it had
happened mentally when Bolt was disqualified at the 2011 South Korea World
Championships. However, last year’s Olympics showed that Bolt shouldn’t be
under-estimated and that he has enough raw ability to dominate the global
sprinting stage for as long as his body holds out and he remains willing.
Gatlin has mounted the early season challenge and his
running impressively. Maybe that’s the inspiration that Bolt needs. Whatever
happens, the competition is great news for Athletics fans.
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