American sprinter Tyson Gay became the world's fastest man by winning the 100 meters in a time of 9.85 seconds at the world athletics championships in Osaka on Sunday.

 

 

Gay, 200m bronze medalist in the last world championships, overcame a bad start to beat world record holder Asafa Powell in a much-anticipated showdown to win his first major world title.

 

Powell, who holds the world record of 9.77 seconds, took an early lead but was overtaken by Gay after 60 meters and Bahamas champion Derrick Atkins, setting for the bronze in 9.96 seconds.

 

Atkins won the silver in 9.91.

 

"My gold medal feels so good and I am very proud of it," said a jubilant Gay.

 

Gay attributed the win to his mother and Jon Drummond, who encouraged him to calm down before the big race.

 

"Normally, I have 100 percent confidence in myself, but today I was a little bit nervous. My mother and Jon Drummond kept telling me 'Just believe in your top speed.' So I stayed relaxed and believed in my top speed even though I had a bad start and Asafa was in front of me. After 60 meters I saw that I could catch him -- and it worked!"

 

The win is too sweet for Gay and the defeat is too bitter for Powell. Both of them are 24 years old.

 

Gay, who lost all five matches against Powell, has maintained a good form this year, recording slightly wind-assisted 9.76 seconds and then won the US national championships with a season-best 9.84 seconds into the wind.

 

Powell had been desperate to win a gold here, since his only major world title was from the Commonwealth Games last year.

 

In 2004, going into the Olympics undefeated, Powell finished fifth, and in 2005, he was injured and out of the world championships.

 

And his dream to become the only second world record holder to win the world title at the same time after Maurice Greene was also shattered.

 

"I am very disappointed," Powell said. "I was ready to go, but I made a couple of mistakes. My blocks stumbled and I could not accelerate well. That was planned to be my race because I'm in great shape, but small mistakes were the reasons I could not realize my plan."

 

Gay is now looking to add a second gold in the 200m. And he even thought of taking the 100m world record away from Powell. His winning time of 19.68 seconds in the US championships is the fourth on the all-time list.

 

He said, "For the 200 meters I will have to see what my body says. I really believe that one day the world record will be mine. This year, I would like to run against Asafa Powell again in one of the upcoming meetings."

 

Atkins was very excited with his silver, saying, "It means a lot to me and my country. I was aiming for the gold but I'm happy to take the silver. I'm a new kid on the block, still learning to run.

 

"I stuck to my race plan and it has come right. I was very confident this year and I'm going to be very confident next year."

 

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2007)