The crowd at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro were waiting for the main event and they were not disappointed as Jamaica’s Usain Bolt qualified for the 100m semi-finals with such supreme ease that it bordered on the ridiculous. His compatriot Yohan Blake also qualified as did 2012 bronze medalist Justin Gatlin of the USA.
The criteria to qualify for the semi-finals required athletes to finish in the top two of their heats to automatically qualify. Following that, the next eight best times qualified for the semis.
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It was American sprinter Gatlin who set the fastest time in the heats when he set a time of 10.01 seconds to comfortably win the second heat. Gatlin started strong and never looked like he was going to relinquish his lead and even slowed down towards the end of the race.
2012 silver medalist Yohan Blake also started strong and powered through to the finish line with ease. He was run very close by Turkey's Jak Ali Harvey but eventually crossed the line three-hundredths of a second ahead of him.
Bolt, scheduled to race in the second-last heat, came out to thunderous applause and he soaked it all in before he got serious in the moments before the start of the race. With the crowd buzzing, Bolt silenced them with a finger to his lips – so much so that you could hear a pin drop before the starter’s gun.
The Jamaican was the second-slowest off the blocks but still surged ahead in no time and, by the end of the race, it was almost as if he were jogging, taking his time to look at where his competitors were so he could ease off. Doing just enough to qualify for the semi-final, Bolt almost made a mockery of the event, reaching the finish line with ease with longer strides compared to the rest of the pack.
The 100m semi-finals are scheduled to take place on Monday (15 August) at 5:30 AM IST.
| # | Country | Athlete | Heat | Time (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | Justin Gatlin | 2 | 10.01 |
| 2 | Ivory Coast | Ben Youssef Meite | 5 | 10.03 |
| 3 | Canada | Andre De Grasse | 4 | 10.04 |
| 4 | Jamaica | Usain Bolt | 7 | 10.07 |
| 5 | China | Zhenye Xie | 3 | 10.08 |
| 6 | Jamaica | Yohan Blake | 6 | 10.11 |
| 7 | Bahrain | Andrew Fisher | 7 | 10.12 |
| 8 | Jamaica | Nickel Ashmeade | 3 | 10.13 |
| 8 | USA | Trayvon Bromell | 5 | 10.13 |
| 8 | Bahrain | Kemarley Brown | 1 | 10.13 |
| 8 | Japan | Aska Cambridge | 4 | 10.13 |
| 8 | Great Britain | Chijindu Ujah | 1 | 10.13 |
| 13 | Turkey | Jak Ali Harvey | 6 | 10.14 |
| 13 | South Africa | Akani Simbine | 8 | 10.14 |
| 15 | USA | Marvin Bracy | 1 | 10.16 |
| 15 | France | Christophe Lemaitre | 5 | 10.16 |
| 17 | China | Bingtian Su | 4 | 10.17 |
| 17 | Iran | Hassan Taftian | 3 | 10.17 |
| 19 | St Kitts & Nevis | Kim Colliins | 3 | 10.18 |
| 19 | Great Britain | James Dasaolu | 7 | 10.18 |
| 21 | France | Jimmy Vicaut | 4 | 10.19 |
| 22 | Antigua | Daniel Bailey | 2 | 10.20 |
| 22 | Antigua | Cejhae Greene | 5 | 10.20 |
| 22 | Japan | Ryota Yamagata | 8 | 10.20 |
