PTI
Doha, May 13: Olympic champion. World champion. Now, Justin Gatlin is the world record holder, too.
The American sprinter broke the 100-meter record with a time of 9.76 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. He shaved one-hundredth of a second off the mark of 9.77 seconds set by Jamaica's Asafa Powell on June 14, 2005, in Athens, Greece.
"This was a perfect race," Gatlin said. "I am a competitor and I promised I would get the world record and I have done it. I don't go for world records. They come to me.''
The 24-year-old Gatlin won the 100 and 200 at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland, last August. He said Monday he intended to break the record in Doha.
"It is amazing I did it," Gatlin said. "It took a lot of discipline and dedication. You will see many more performances like this from me in the future."
Gatlin was quick out of the starting blocks and running even with fellow American Terrence Trammel for the first 50 meters. Only in the last 40 meters did Gatlin surge into the lead.
After crossing the line, Gatlin went over to the stands and hugged members of the U.S. team as the crowd of 10,000 gave him a standing ovation. He then knelt on the track with a bouquet of flowers presented by a Qatari hostess and posed for photographs next to the electronic scoreboard showing his time of 9.76.
To avoid the extreme Gulf heat, the race was run under floodlights at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) with temperatures at 28 degrees centigrade (84 Fahrenheit).
Olusoji Fasuban of Nigeria finished second in 9.84 seconds, with Shawn Crawford of the United States third in 10.08.
For breaking the record, Gatlin gets a US$100,000 bonus from the International Association of Athletics Federations. The Qatar federation said it would chip in an additional US$30,000.
Gatlin's previous best time was the 9.85 he ran in winning the Olympic gold in Athens in 2004, a victory which established him as the new star in world sprinting. He clocked 9.88 in the 100 final at the worlds last year.
Gatlin, a former NCAA 100 and 200 champion at Tennessee, is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and coached by Trevor Graham. He was also the world indoor 60-meter champion in 2003.
Gatlin and Powell, who both ran 9.95s in separate races last weekend, will face each other at the Gateshead meet in England on June 11.
When Powell set the record last year, he bettered the mark of 9.79 set by Maurice Greene in Athens in June 1999. Tim Montgomery's mark of 9.78, set in Paris in 2002, was wiped off the books after he was banned for two years in the BALCO doping scandal.