Making Team USA
Gatlin, Gay, Bailey will represent in 100-meter dash
Personal best: Justin Gatlin ran 9.80 to win the men’s 100-meter final in trials Sunday. Tyson Gay, slowed by a hip injury, came in second and Ryan Bailey finished third.
EUGENE, Ore. — Usain Bolt might not be shaking in his spikes, but two veteran U.S. men’s 100-meter stars are attempting to put together a decent challenge to the Jamaican world recordholder.
Justin Gatlin, 30, the Olympic champion in 2004 when few people had heard of Bolt, sent a message Sunday when he won the Olympic trials 100 in 9.80 seconds, a personal record.
Right behind him was former world champion Tyson Gay, 29, once the primary competition to Bolt. Gay finished in 9.86, with Ryan Bailey third in 9.93.
Can they take on the seemingly unbeatable Bolt, the 2008 Olympic champion who holds the world record of 9.58, and his speedy teammates?
“I don’t think I’d come back to a sport where I’d be happy to go for second or third,” said Gatlin, who missed the 2008 Olympics while serving a four-year doping suspension. “We all have our eye on the prize, and that’s the gold medal. “I have a lot left in the tank.” Gatlin is coached by former U.S. sprinter Dennis Mitchell.
“If we’re going to take on the Jamaicans, we’re looking at running 9.6, probably,” Mitchell said. “Justin is primed and ready to go.”
Gay, the fastest American in history with a time of 9.69 run in 2009, has been struggling with a nagging hip injury.
“I kept it loose, kept it warmed up, and it held up pretty well,” Gay said. “I feel I’m on the way up. It was just my second race of the year. It’s about all I could ask for.”
Gatlin, when asked about his winding path from Olympic champ to drug cheat and back to the Games, said, “I’ve been through some dark paths. What helped me keep my faith was the faith of my fans . . . responding to e-mails, talking to kids.”
Final women’s 100 berth might go to run-off, 2C