LONDON — World record holder Usain Bolt will face-off with world-leader Christian Coleman in the semi-finals of the men’s 100 metres on Day 2 of the 2017 IAAF World Championships here in London in Saturday’s evening session.
Coleman currently holds the world-leading mark at 9.82 seconds and looked impressive in his heat winning performance on Friday and American is determined to spoil Bolt’s sending off.
The NCAA champion will get an early battle with the defending champion, as the pair were drawn together in heat 3 of the three semi-final races.
Coleman, a naturally quick starter, will get going from lane four, while Bolt, who usually gets into his own after 60m, will be in lane six.
Other sprinters of interest also drawn in the third semi-final heat are Britain’s Chijindu Ujah, who has been vocal about his chances of beating Bolt in London, as well as Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut and former Jamaican sprinter Andrew Fisher, who now represents Bahrain.
Yohan Blake, the 2011 world champion, will race in the second semis against American Christopher Belcher, Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan, China’s Bingtian Su and another former Jamaican sprinter, Jak Ali Harvey, who is suiting up for Turkey.
Meanwhile, Justin Gatlin will race in heat 1 of the semi-finals and the American champion will be up against Jamaica’s Julian Forte, who was the fastest qualifier from the heats and was the only man to break 10-seconds on Friday, at 9.99 seconds.
Akani Simbine of South Africa who has eight sub-10 seconds clocking already this season, is also facing the starter’s gun in semi-final heat one and he will be expecting to advance to the final later in the evening.