Christian Coleman renewed his status as favourite in the men’s 100m title at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Doha, speeding off to a fast 9.88s to easily win heat 1 of the 100m semifinals.
The American who hasn’t raced in over two months prior to these championships topped the standings, yet again being the only athlete to go under 10s so far in Doha, repeating the same feat as was the case in the first round. Canada’s Aaron Brown came through well with a strong finish to nick his first World Championships 100m Final spot from Adam Gemili who came a hundredth of a second short.
Andre de Grasse staged a very strong performance in the second heat as when Justin Gatlin and Yohan Blake were having their own battle, he came through strongly for the win in a time of 10.07s ahead of Blake who edged Gatlin while they were both awarded a time of 10.09s with a fastest loser spot going to the defending champion.
The last semifinal heat went to South Africa’s Akani Simbine who repeated his time from the heats, beating Zharnel Hughes in 10.01s to the Briton’s 10.05s while Filippo Tortu snatched the last fastest loser spot in 10.11s.
