Chambers still waiting as Gatlin and Gay confirm Olympics 100m spots
Published:Justin Gatlin has emerged as potentially the biggest threat to Usain Bolt in the 100m at the Olympics after breaking his personal best to beat Tyson Gay to victory in the US trials.
With 18 of the top 20 sprinters of this year all coming from either the US or Jamaica, the respective trials of each nation are do or die, with only three spots available for each team.
The US trials have been run first and Gatlin was mightily impressive with his clocking of 9.80 secs to secure a valuable victory, which makes 10/1 a potential big price that he claims 100m glory in London.
The time was not only his lifetime best, but also the quickest time ever for an athlete over the age of 30, giving him a serious chance of battling for medals in London.
Gatlin has now run the second fastest time of the year following Usain Bolt’s clocking of 9.76 secs in Rome last month and will now feel like he can interrupt Jamaica’s potential clean sweep of the 100m medals.
However, their team will not be finalised until after the national trials, with Bolt, world champion Yohan Blake and perennial underachiever Asafa Powell all fancied to get through.
They had posted the fastest three times of the season until Gatlin’s performance in Oregon.
Gay is still waiting for a first Olympic medal after a hamstring injury ruled him out of Beijing four years ago and he ran 9.86 secs to confirm his London place in second.
Having previously dipped below 9.7 secs at the peak of his form, it is likely that he will also be in contention for a medal and he is also 10/1 to claim gold.
In terms of British interest, Dwain Chambers must now head to the European Championships in Helsinki with the hopes of guaranteeing his participation.
Chambers won the British trials, but has still not run the ‘A’ standard Olympic qualifying time of 10.18 secs this season.
If he can run this is Finland he is a definite in London, if not his participation will be in the hands of the selectors, who have one discretionary pick for each athletics event.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
