By Xinhua
Osaka : American sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 metres in 9.85 seconds at the World Athletics Championships here Sunday, beat world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica to win his first major world title.
Powell, who holds the world record of 9.77 seconds, finished third in 9.96 seconds.
Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas was second in 9.91.
Gay, who won a 200m bronze at the last world championships, has lost out in his previous five head-to-heads against Powell but has maintained good form this year. He recorded a wind-assisted 9.76 seconds and then won the US national championships with a season’s best 9.84 seconds into the wind.
Powell had been desperate to win a gold here, since his only major 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.
Gay is now looking to add a second gold in the 200m. His winning time of 19.68 seconds in the US championships is the fourth on the all-time list.