CHRISTIAN COLEMAN SHOWED ominous form in the men’s 100 metres heats on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Doha.
The American was the only man to run under 10 seconds on Friday and could have gone even quicker having jogged over the line in the closing metres.
Coleman, a silver medallist in London two years ago, is the overwhelming favourite to win gold in Saturday’s final and will take some stopping on the early evidence.
Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin’s began their battle in the men’s 400m hurdles, while there was a moment of sportsmanship to remember in the men’s 5,000m and a dramatic disqualification.
Coleman, the fastest man over 100m this year, headed to Doha after a turbulent few months in which the US Anti-Doping Agency charged him over failing to “properly file his whereabouts information” after allegedly missing three random tests in 12 months, before withdrawing the case.
But the American, who insisted this month that he will never fail a drugs test, was clearly not distracted and ran 9.98 seconds in his heat.
Compatriot Justin Gatlin, the defending world champion who has gone under 10 seconds four times at the age of 37 this year, defeated Olympic 100m bronze medallist Andre De Grasse in his heat with a time of 10.06secs, while South Africa’s Akani Simbine and Jamaican Yohan Blake were among the other winners.
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