World finally catches up to Bolt
30-year-old star finishes third in final solo sprint
• The moment and the crowd of 55,900 at London Stadium were his and Usain Bolt was inches from a clean getaway.
But on Saturday, there would be no pitch- perfect ending to what Bolt insisted was the final individual race of his unparalleled career.
The gold medal in the 100 metres at the world track and field championships went instead to Justin Gatlin, the 35- year- old American who has long been Bolt’s foil and who had not won a 100- m world title since 2005. Gatlin has served two doping suspensions in his career and the spectators booed him before the final, just as they had in the early rounds.
Running far outside in Lane 8, Gatlin finished in 9.92 seconds, reeling in Christian Coleman, his 21- year- old countryman he has mentored, with a final surge. Gatlin screamed with delight and put an index finger to his lips as if to silence the crowd when the results of this close race appeared on the scoreboard.
Coleman, in his first world championships, took the silver in 9.94 seconds. The bronze went to Bolt, whose 9.95 was his slowest time in a major 100-metre final. It was also a big stride or two removed from his world-record 9.58 set in Berlin in 2009.
“I’m just sorry I couldn’t end it on a winning note,” said Bolt, who will turn 31 this month.
It seemed hardly fitting, but then neither life nor track meets follow a script. Bolt’s season turned out to be one too far after his triple- goldmedal performance at last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2017 and above all on Saturday night, he simply did not deliver the required valedictory speed. But he insisted the defeat had not altered his retirement plans.
“It doesn’t change anything for me,” Bolt said. “I think I lost the race to a great competitor.”
Referring to Coleman, he said: “I came in third to a young kid that is coming up. He has a great talent and great future ahead of him. So no regrets. I came out and did my best. I was always going to end no matter what happened — win, lose or draw. I was always going to walk away. I’ve done all I can do for the sport and for myself. It’s time to go.”
Bolt has often made victory look so easy, even preordained, crossing finish lines at less than full speed with his arms spread wide and a grin on his face.
But there was no margin for grandstanding in this final. As Bolt stretched for the finish line, he was grimacing, his mouth and eyes wide with effort. And as he started to decelerate, his face was full of concern as he looked at the scoreboard for the results.
“After the semifinal with Coleman, I knew if I don’t get my start, I’m going to be in trouble,” Bolt said. “And when I left the blocks, I was like, ‘Awww.’”
It was the first bronze medal for Bolt at a world championships, and it left the crowd buzzing with surprise. People had come to see Bolt off in style, roaring for him as he arrived on the track. Gatlin drew boos as he walked through the tunnel, and again as he was introduced at the starting line.
But this turned out to be Gatlin’s moment, too. His second doping suspension, a four-year ban, began in 2006, when he was the world’s leading sprinter. He has been running in Bolt’s long shadow since his return, and their races have often been cast as morality plays, particularly their duel in the 100 at the 2015 world championships in Beijing, which Bolt won by just one- hundredth of a second and was hailed in some quarters as a saviour for track and field.
There has been occasional tension between them, but on Saturday, both resisted the suggestion the victory by Gatlin, who also served a one- year ban starting in 2001, had been a major blow to their sport. Bolt embraced him and congratulated him warmly on the track, and he later defended Gatlin’s right to compete after “paying his dues.”
Gatlin, the oldest man ever to win a running event other than the marathon at the world championships, said Bolt has done much for athletics.
“At the end of the race, I bent deep for Usain and paid homage to him. That’s what it is. This night is still a magical night for track and field and for Usain Bolt.”
By the force of his talent and personality, Bolt has long been the sport’s seminal figure.
He still plans to compete next Saturday in the 4x100m relay for Jamaica, but the heaviest lifting is now done unless Bolt changes his retirement plans.
Though his rare defeat at London Stadium was deflating, his career has been an against- the- odds joyride at a time when track and field has been buffeted by doping and credibility crises. Though many of his rivals and some of his Jamaican compatriots have been suspended for violations, Bolt has never been sanctioned or been declared to have tested positive for a banned substance.
He remains one of three men to have won three world 100-metre titles — the Americans Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene are the others. But no great runner has possessed Bolt’s mix of race-day playfulness and ruthlessness. He has been as good at communicating with the big crowds who have paid to see him ( and often only him) as he has been adept at shutting down all opposition on the grandest occasions.
He swept the 100 and the 200 at each of the past three Olympics, an unprecedented feat. He also has won four world titles in the 200, though he chose not to compete in that event, long his favourite, in London this year.
Since 2008, when he became a global star at the Beijing Olympics, he has lost only two individual finals at major championships. The first came in 2011, when he beat himself with a false start in the final of the 100 meters at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The second came Saturday night — in the same stadium where he won three gold medals at the 2012 Olympics.
Bolt has won as an overwhelming favourite, as he did at the world championships in Berlin in 2009, where he set world records in the 100 and the 200 that still stand.
He also has won — repeatedly — despite less- thanideal preparation and legitimate concerns about his form.
He had run three 100 races this year before London, breaking 10 seconds in only one, when he won in 9.95 seconds in Monaco last month.
He was vulnerable, no doubt, but in the past, with the spotlight at its brightest, he still found the speed and the will to remain the fastest man in the world. This time, he faltered, and even as he was left behind, he was also leaving a void.
For Bolt’s sport, filling his golden spikes will be a monumental challenge.