Athletics: Gatlin triumphs after slow start

The American, running competitively for the last time before the World Championships in Helsinki, which begin on 6 August, edged out the Jamaicans Dwight Thomas and Michael Frater.

"I just wanted to go out there and make a great race," Gatlin, whose personal best is 9.85sec, said. "It's funny, sometimes you feel like you run fast but you are running slow and sometimes you feel slow but you run fast. It felt like I was going to make a below-10 [seconds] run. I am starting to feel good. I had a slight quadriceps injury in London and Rome, but it is feeling better now."

The Olympic champion and world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva, of Russia, dominated the pole vault event, setting a stadium record of 4.79 metres. Isinbayeva attempted to set her 18th world record when she tried to clear 5.01 but narrowly missed out. Last Friday at Crystal Palace, the Russian became the first woman to clear five metres.

The Swede Stefan Holm, the Olympic high jump champion, delighted his home crowd by winning with an effort of 2.33m. Kajsa Bergqvist made it a Swedish double, leaping 1.95m to triumph in the women's event.