| Host City: Berlin, Germany | Format: First round (First 3 & 4 fastest to second round) (Aug 15) |
| Dates: 15–23 August | Format: Second round (First 3 & 1 fastest to semi-finals) (Aug 15) |
| Nations participating: 202 | Format: Semi-finals (First 4 to final) (Aug 16) |
| Athletes participating: 2101 | |
| | | Main venue: Olympiastadion
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| Overview by IAAF | | |
| The three favourites took things very easy in the first round with Gay (10.16) running the fastest time of the morning and Bolt (10.20) looking very relaxed. Powell was too relaxed, and eased off so much that he almost missed qualifying. He returned with the fastest time of the second round (9.95). A frisson of shock ran through the crowd when Bolt false-started in the first semi-final. The Jamaican took an early lead when the field did get away, and was a body length clear at 70m before easing down to win in 9.89. The second semi-final featured a poor start by Gay, and a smooth pickup by Powell. Gay eventually took the lead with 10m to go. With expectations high of a special performance from Bolt, the field got away first time in the final, with Bolt marginally ahead of the field by 20m. From that point on, Bolt was quicker than the opposition with each stride. Despite the fact that Tyson Gay was operating at US record pace, Bolt effortlessly and majestically flowed away. By 60m – reached in an unprecedented 6.31 – Bolt was clearly ahead of Gay (6.39) and Powell (6.42). By 80m Bolt (7.92) was about a metre clear of Gay (8.01), with Powell (8.10) easing off slightly in the knowledge that he would place no better than third. In Beijing exactly one year earlier, Bolt shut down at this point but still set a world record 9.69. This time he continued running hard and the result was 9.58 (9.572), while Gay ran a magnificent 9.71 (9.705). Less than a metre covered the next four, with Bailey just edging Thompson for fourth by 0.004, and Chambers an identically small margin ahead of Burns for sixth. The Trinidadian thus went one better than in Osaka. |
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