EUGENE, Oregon, (Reuters) – American Fred Kerley blasted out a warning that he, and the springy Hayward Field track, are in hot form as he blasted to a 9.79 seconds victory in the World Championships 100m heats yesterday, but Olympic champion Lamont Jacobs looked rusty.
Kerley had posted the year’s leading time and a personal best of 9.76 on the same track when winning the U.S. trials last month and looks well-equipped to surpass that in the semi-finals or final today.
Italian Jacobs, the shock winner in Tokyo, has struggled with a thigh injury this year and though he equalled his season’s best of 10.04 he trailed impressive Jamaican heat winner Oblique Seville (9.93).
Jacobs, who did not look comfortable crossing the line, was also shown a rare yellow card for being late to the call room.
Marvin Bracy, second in the U.S. trials, had got things underway with a 10.05, and though there was plenty of support for the home runners, it was a disappointing crowd with the 12,500-capacity stadium only around half-full for the opening evening session of the first World Championship held in the United States.
Trayvon Bromell, second-fastest this year and desperate to make amends for the Tokyo Olympics when he failed to make the final after entering the Games as favourite, also looked strong as he eased down early en route to a 9.89 time.
Defending champion Christian Coleman won his heat in 10.08 but Olympic and world bronze medallist Andre de Grasse, who has struggled for form all season, again lacked sharpness as he finished second behind him in 10.12
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo set an under-20 world record of 9.94 when leading home former world champion Yohan Blake in his heat, the 19-year-old also collecting a yellow card.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, the third fastest man in the field this year who served a doping ban in 2017, arrived in Eugene only a matter of hours before the heats after visa problems.
Unsurprisingly he did not look the best-prepared athlete in the field but scraped through as the third finisher of the final heat in 10.10.
