ROME, July 9: Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin returned to his winning ways with victory in 9.96 seconds at the Rome Golden Gala on Friday. In the absence of Jamaica’s world record holder Asafa Powell, who pulled out of the event on Friday, Gatlin won by a tenth of a second ahead of Ghana’s Aziz Zakari. Zakari beat Gatlin to the line in last Friday’s Paris Golden League meeting.
After only two of the six Golden League meetings, just three people remain in contention for the million dollar jackpot shared between athletes who win each of their events in the elite series.
They are Russia’s Olympic long jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva, who won the triple jump on Friday, French 100 metres runner Christine Arron and American 400 metres hurdler Lashinda Demus.
Two more Paris winners, Kenyan 1,500 metres runner Daniel Komen and Russia’s Svetlana Cherkasova in the 800 also saw their hopes of cashing in on the jackpot slip away.
Komen was overhauled in the last 50 metres by Rashid Ramzi, who crossed the line in three minutes 30.01 seconds to equal the best performance this year.
Leading results:
MEN’S:
100 metres: 1. Justin Gatlin (US) 9.96 seconds; 2. Aziz Zakari (Ghana) 10.06; 3. Leonard Scott (US) 10.11.
400 metres: 1. Tyree Washington (US) 45.02 seconds; 2. Andrew Rock (US) 45.10; 3. Brandon Simpson (Jamaica) 45.21.
800 metres: 1. Alfred Kirwa (Kenya) one minute 44.62 seconds; 2. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (South Africa) 1:44.70; 3. Yuriy Borzakovskiy (Russia) 1:44.81.
1500 metres: 1. Rashid Ramzi (Bahrain) three minutes 30.00 seconds; 2. Daniel Kipchirchir Komen (Kenya) 3:30.37; 3. Bernard Lagat (US) 3:31.09.