Tyson Gay won his first race since a second place finish at the World Championships and then said he would be having surgery at the end of the season to cure a lingering groin injury.
Gay clocked 10.15 seconds in the 100m running into a headwind at the British Grand Prix on Monday, finishing well ahead of Kim Collins and Marc Burns in his first race since he was beaten by Usain Bolt’s blistering performance in Berlin where the Jamaican set a world record of 9.58 on Aug. 16.
“I’m looking forward to Brussels [Friday], maybe one more race and then we’re going to get surgery,” the American said after finishing 0.29 ahead.
“I felt great with my second-place finish [in Berlin]. I ran a great time, just wasn’t fast enough,” he said.
Gay got a great start at Gateshead and was well away from the field by halfway to win by more than two meters. Collins, the 2003 world champion from St Kitts and Nevis, was given second place ahead of Burns of Trinidad and Tobago even though they had the same time of 10.44.
Olympic and world 400m champion LaShawn Merritt won his 15th race in a row but clocked a slow 45.11 seconds in the damp and blustery conditions, finishing 2m ahead of Britain’s Martyn Rooney with Angelo Taylor third. Kerron Clement, the two-time world 400m hurdle world champion from the U.S., placed sixth in 45.77.
“I’m feeling great,” Merritt said. “I had a great season last year — won Olympic Games. Came to this year and my main focus was the World Championships. I got there, took it through the rounds, got to the final. I’m world champion now.”
“I ran in Zurich two days ago and ran 44.2, second fastest time in the year. I just want to finish my season off. I have one more race after this, the World Athletics Final [in Thessaloniki, Greece, from Sept. 12 to Sept. 13].”
Shawn Crawford, the 2004 Olympic champion, held off Wallace Spearmon to win the 200m in 20.80 seconds.
US sprinter Carmelita Jeter won the women’s 100m, running 11.08 seconds into a strong headwind and countrywoman Allyson Felix, the three-time world champion, recovered from a poor start to cruise to an easy but slow victory in the 200 in 23.13.
World champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica pulled away to win the 100 hurdles in 12.88.
Bernard Lagat was surprisingly beaten in the 3,000m by Moses Kipsiro of Uganda. Lagat appeared well placed to attack the leader coming off the final bend but Kipsiro kicked and was pulling away at the line to win in 7 minutes 35.69 seconds. Lagat was second, 0.99 slower.
■VLASIC DELIGHTS CROWD
AFP, ZAGREB
Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic reproduced her world championships-winning form in front of her home crowd by dominating the women’s high jump in the Zagreb Grand Prix meeting on Monday.
Vlasic jumped a best of 2.08m with world silver medalist Anna Chicherova of Russia a distant second on 1.94m.
The height Vlasic achieved was just 1cm short of Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova’s world record mark set in Rome back in 1987.
The 25-year-old Croatian failed in three attempts at what would have been a new world record of 2.10m.
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