EUGENE, Oregon – Tyson Gay launched his bid for a first world championships berth since 2009 yesterday, but Remontay McClain’s sizzling time of 9.82 seconds overshadowed the veteran in the 100m heats at the US athletics titles.
The 22-year-old McClain’s wind-aided, effort relegated his training partner Gay to second place in 9.85 in a heat run with the aid of a howling 4.9m per second tailwind.
Collegian Trayvon Bromell, 19, won his heat in 9.84 —— the time matching the third-fastest of the year and run with a legal tailwind.
It’s a sign of the task Gay faces as he tries to move on from a one-year doping ban and re-establish himself as the kind of sprint force he was in winning 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold at the 2007 world championships.
The 32-year-old American acknowledged that he finds himself in a “different era”.
“It was weird —— maybe weird’s not the right word —— the different guys I’m running with now,” Gay said. “It’s a different era for me. When I went in the back, all the new faces —— it was different.”
But he was pleased with a performance that he believes sets him up well for Friday’s semi-finals and final.
“I just wanted to get there as easy as possible,” he said, adding that coach John Smith had told him McClain was primed for a fast time.
“I just wanted to run comfortable and make it to the next round.
The top three in each event at this week’s championships qualify for the August 22-30 world championships in Beijing.
Justin Gatlin, who owns the two fastest 100m in the world this year, has a bye into the worlds as the 2014 Diamond League 100m title winner and is focusing this week on the 200m and a possible Beijing double.
In the women’s 100m heats, former world champion Carmelita Jeter blazed to a wind-aided 10.87 to lead the way into the semi-finals.
Jeter, the 2011 world champion who raced through a quadriceps injury and settled for bronze at the 2013 worlds in Moscow, just edged Jasmine Todd, who finished second in their heat in the same time.
