ISTANBUL, Turkey (Sporting Alert) — American Justin Gatlin won the men’s 60m dash at the IAAF World Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Also on the day, Ashton Eaton of USA set a world record of 6645 points to win gold in the men’s Heptathlon.
“It feels good. Coming into the competition, I knew I could break the world record,” said Eaton. “The competition was solid, everything was good, I didn’t have any bad event.
“It’s a good beginning into the season and I will be now preparing for the Olympic Trials, which you know are very competitive in the US.”
Meanwhile, Gatlin, a former World and Olympic champion posted a time of 6.46 seconds to take the gold medal ahead of Jamaica’s Nesta Carter, who ran 6.54 for the silver.
“I came here dominating and I wanted to follow up,” Gatlin said. “I just had to make sure that once the gun sounded, I went out.
“I won the 2003 World Indoors Championships in Birmingham with exactly the same time and it feels great to be back.
“I have my confidence back and I dropped a couple of pounds. I got one medal around my neck and I am now going for the next one.
Great Britain’s Dwain Chambers held on for the bronze medal after running 6.60, the same time as American Trell Kimmons, who came into the championships with the fastest time in the world this season.
Australian Sally Pearson was also in electrifying form after she clocked a world-leading and national record time of 7.73 seconds to win the women’s 60m hurdles by a huge margin. Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter was second in 7.94, while third went to Belarus’ Alina Talay, 7.97.
Elsewhere, Costa Rica’s Nery Brenes upset the field to win the men’s 400m in a championship record of 45.11, with favourite Kirani James of Grenada finishing last. American Sanya Richards-Ross won the women’s race in 50.79.
Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba won the women’s 1,500 title, while Britain’s Yamile Aldama, who is a Cuban-born representative, won the women’s triple jump.
