(MENAFN- Arab Times) Usain Bolt lowered his 6-foot-5 frame into a too-small seat in the warmup room and watched on TV as his main rival coasted across the line in a first-round heat at world championships.
Justin Gatlin finished that heat in 9.83 seconds Saturday night - a faster 100-meter time than Bolt has run this year.
Early rounds aren't supposed to mean much at big meets like this one, but after Bolt more or less lumbered to his own qualifying time of 9.96 in the evening's final heat, he said it was hard to ignore the scoreboard.
"Just watching the guys, and how fast they were running, it was pretty quick," Bolt said. "I didn't worry. I was just trying to execute and save as much as possible."
A good strategy on any opening night, though on this one, something felt different. Maybe it's because Gatlin has been dominating the sprints for two years since returning from a four-year doping ban, while Bolt has been on the sideline with a variety of ailments that have limited his race appearances.
But Gatlin wasn't the only one sending messages on a muggy night at the Bird's Nest - the stadium Bolt returned to seven years after sharing his speed and his smile with the world in a three-win, three-world-record performance at the 2008 Olympics.
Seven of the 24 runners who qualified for Sunday's semifinals ran under 10 seconds. At the last two world championships and the London Olympics, there were a combined four sub-10 times in Round 1. This was the first time Bolt had run under 10 in the first round of worlds, but the Jamaican simply blended into the group.
"You have to earn it," said American sprinter Mike Rodgers, who raced one lane to the right of Bolt and finished .01 behind him. "If you want to be a champ, you have to earn it."
Bolt's jump out of the block was typically mediocre, ranked second-slowest in his heat. He was bobbling between the lines in Lane 6 for most of the first 40 meters, before accelerating from the back to the lead over the next 40. Both he and Rodgers coasted home, though when Bolt looked to his right to check him as they approached the finish, he probably saw more of the 5-foot-7 American than he expected.
"It wasn't as great as I wanted it to be," Bolt said. "But I wasn't expecting to be great."
Great might come Sunday, when Bolt could become the first athlete to win nine career gold medals at world championships.
On opening night, gold medals went to Christina Schwanitz of Germany in women's shot put, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea in the men's marathon and Mo Farah of Britain in the 10,000. Farah tripped over another runner's foot with less than 400 meters to go but steadied himself for his second world gold at that distance. He'll go for a third straight 5,000-meter title next Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bolt left the Bird's Nest to prepare for a return in less than 24 hours, and everyone is expecting him to be better.
"He did the same thing in 2012," Gatlin said. "He kind of ran slow in the first round (10.09), picked it up in semis (9.87) and crushed it in finals (9.63). We all just have to sit there and wait and see exactly what he's going to do."
After the action in the preliminaries, Gatlin became the 100-meter favorite, at 4-5, in several sports books in Britain, the country where the Bolt-Gatlin showdown is being labeled as "Good vs. Evil" - a race between the sport's smiling face and a twice-convicted doper.
Favorite or no, Gatlin insisted he wasn't thinking about posting a time on Day 1.
"My mind was blank," the 2004 Olympic 100-meter champion said.
If so, it makes that 9.83 that much more impressive. (Officially, it was wind-aided, but only by .1 meter per second over the limit for a legal time.)
Meanwhile, Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill held an 80-point lead over British team mate Katarina Johnson-Thompson after the first day of the heptathlon at the world championships on Saturday.
Ennis-Hill, who took a break from the sport in 2014 as she gave birth to son Reggie, is seeking to regain the world title she won in 2011.
Brianne Theisen Eaton is top of the rankings after beating Ennis-Hill earlier this year but the Briton eclipsed the Canadian in all four events, the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 metres.
Fastest in the 200 was Johnson-Thompson, in 23.08 seconds, as she chalked up a total of 3,925 points to climb from ninth to second position.
Dutchwoman Nadine Visser was third on 3,871 points while Theisen Eaton was back in fourth with 3,865.
"I had some solid events and I'm really pleased to be in this position right now," the 29-year-old Ennis-Hill told reporters.
"I've a feeling of slight disappointment because I'm always comparing myself to my best but I'm pleased with that score at the end of the day."
The day's second event proved pivotal as Johnson-Thompson, a stellar high jumper, nearly went out without registering a score at her opening height.
"I'm just happy it didn't all end in tears," the 22-year-old said after the 200 metres.
Theisen Eaton's gold medal chances were hit when she managed only a modest clearance in the high jump.
"Right now I think I would be happy with any medal after the atrocious day I had today," she said. "I couldn't get into a rhythm.
"I felt really great going into the 200 then, I don't know, I don't have words. I've got to figure it out.
"I don't think at this point any talking is going to help. I just need to go to sleep, get my mind right and come out tomorrow," added Theisen Eaton.
The heptathlon concludes on Sunday with the long jump, javelin and 800 metres.
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