Usain Bolt beats Justin Gatlin to win 200m gold medal at the World Championships

Sprint king: Usain Bolt seals the double sprint gold
AFP/Getty Images

Usain Bolt cemented his place as the world’s fastest man by sealing double sprint gold and beating Justin Gatlin for a second time at the World Championships in Beijing today.

Bolt, who had previously edged Gatlin by one hundredth of a second in the 100 metres, again kept the American at bay to win his 10th world title in a time of 19.55 seconds, his quickest time since the Olympic final in London.

The 200m final had been billed as a showdown between the two fastest man in the world, who between them had dominated the heats and semi-finals, and the pair entered the home straight level.

But the finale was just the same, Bolt two tenths clear by the line and extending his winning run over Gatlin over the distance to 10 years, Gatlin last beating his arch rival in Helsinki in 2005 with Britain’s Zharnel Hughes in fifth.

The pair will do battle once more on Saturday in the final of the 4x100m, with Bolt and Gatlin anchoring home the Jamaican and American relay teams respectively, and Bolt bidding to seal the same triple gold achieved at the last World Championships and last two Olympic Games.

There was disappointment in the preceding 400m final, however, when Christine Ohuruogu came in last in a race dominated by Allyson Felix.

As defending champion, the Londoner had come in as a strong medal bet despite a difficult season in which she switched coaches and struggled for her best form until these championships.

But come the final, she was caught out by the early pace of Felix just inside her and in the home straight - usually the strongest part of her race - she ran out of steam and jogged over the line in the final metres in eighth.

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