Coleman skips 200m after win in 100m; Bekele claims Berlin marathon

Doha: US sprinter Christian Coleman stamped his mark on world sprinting on Saturday with a dominant performance to sweep to the global 100 metres title and suggest the heir to retired Jamaican icon Usain Bolt has arrived.

But the newly crowned world 100m champion has withdrawn from the 200m at the World Championships, the US Track and Field Federation confirmed on Sunday.

Earlier, the 23-year-old American, swept over the finish line in a world-leading personal best of 9.76sec to claim his first major outdoor championship gold medal.

Defending champion Justin Gatlin took silver in 9.89sec at the age of 37 while Canada’s Andre De Grasse claimed bronze in 9.90sec.

It completed a flawless championship campaign for Coleman, who had been the only man to duck under 10 seconds in both Friday’s opening rounds and Saturday’s semi-finals.

Coleman may be just starting to accrue titles but Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce suggested a fourth 100m women’s world crown is on the cards.

The 32-year-old two-time Olympic champion timed an impressive 10.80sec, the fastest women’s 100m heat in world championship history.

There were also first world titles for Ethiopia-born naturalised Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan in the 10,000m and DeAnna Price of the US, who celebrated victory in the women’s hammer.

Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle upset the form book to strike men’s long jump gold, producing the leap of his life to defeat favourite Juan Miguel Echevarria.

The 23-year-old Gayle launched himself 8.69m with his fourth attempt while Cuba’s Echevarria only managed 8.34m for bronze.

Day two concluded with all eyes on the men’s and women’s 50km walk races, with organisers nervously monitoring the progress of athletes chasing medals in sweltering conditions.

The men’s race was won by Yusuke Suzuki, who became the first Japanese athlete to win the 50km men’s race.

Elsewhere, Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won his second Berlin Marathon on Sunday in a time of two hours one minute and 41 seconds, just two seconds short of the world record.

Bekele left it late to hit the lead, overtaking countryman Birhanu Legese on the 38th

kilometre before hitting top speed as he chased the world record of 2:01:39 set in Berlin last year by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.

Agence France-Presse