Wow… Not bad for his first race… He is going to be under the microscope… for the rest of his career…
Weak considering less wind and he jogged or “only ran half” of the prelims.
You think? He’s not going to be 9.77 ever again but 4 years out and comes back and runs 10.24… It’s respectable time…
I doubt he jogged 10.34 he’s not at that point right now and I doubt he ever will be able to “jog” 10.34 anytime soone. I’d be SHOCKED if he can get below 10 this season.
Well Drob trains “for fun” and ran about that time.
Well, Jmee got second in 10"31…has a SB of 10"19…so, after some races, he could hit 10 flat probably…not so bad…
Gatlin was all over his lane. Samuels gave him a good run, Justin certainly didn’t jog the final!
Not the Gatlin I know…Looked flat. Didnt have that pop off the track he used to have.
The Irish Times - Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Gatlin returns to win after four-year drug ban
US sprinter Justin Gatlin who comfortably won his 100 metres heat earlier in the day, finished with a time of 10.24 seconds to win the final at last night’s Kuldliiga meet in Estonia.
That was an improvement of 0.10 seconds on the 28-year-old’s time in his heat, but some way off his personal best of 9.85. Compatriots J-Mee Samuels and Rubin Williams were 0.07 and 0.30secs further back respectively.
Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100 metres champion, was running at the KuldLiiga meeting in Rakvere, Estonia, as he started his comeback aiming for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
He bettered his heat time of 10.34 seconds but ran far from his personal best of 9.85 in winning the final ahead of fellow American J-Mee Samuels who finished in 10.31.
“I came off the blocks and stumbled a little bit and my first 20 (metres) was not on point like it was in the prelims, but I think I kept my composure towards the end of the race and I finished well,” Gatlin said.
“I got a lot of the butterflies out and I am ready to go and run and compete.”
His coach Loren Seagrove said: “He was behind by one meter at the 40, and that is not typical, but in the last 40 meters he was quite strong.”
Gatlin had not run a competitive race since June 2006 after being banned because of a positive test for the male sex hormone testosterone and its precursors.
He said he was a little disappointed with his time before adding:
“It feels good to just get my feet wet and to come back and that is what my coach wanted.”
The 28-year-old regained his eligibility to compete in July but was expected to have difficulty finding races even after the ban ended because of a Euro Meetings recommendation not to invite athletes who bring dispute to the sport.
However, the organisers of the Estonian meetings, which are not members of the Euro group, welcomed Gatlins participation.
“Now we are going to work on getting the strength and hopefully (at the next meet in Tallinn) on August 8th we are going to lower that time as well,” said Gatlin.
After finally spending four years in exile, Gatlin declined to reveal what he plans next.
“Right now I am just going to focus on Tallinn and then worry about what is after that,” he said.
faster than my prediction. I doubt he will be fucking with the top 6 in the world anytime soon if ever. He will be semi competitive in the US. But we never know what next year has in store. Damn jmee was giving it too him for most of the race. But this is his first race in years. Jmee should be ashamed!
DROB is a beast… Thats not a fair comparison… We’ll see though. He better be on the “up and up” cuz they are hawking him. I really hope he can run some good times…
And what the hell happened to samuels? I saw that kid run 10.05 at a meet at a HS senior. I thought he would be running sub 10 by now…
he lost it when he cut his hair. he has been a slight bust.
I thought he was going to stop running at 20-30m…
After 4 years out he did great! Yes he looked flat, heavy and so on but he will get better and u know what…he will break 10 this year if he just keeps racing and training.
I agree 110%!!!
What do you guys think of him choosing seagrave? Ben was in the same situation when he came back too…
Doubt he had many other options. Hopefully it will work out for him.
What’s wrong with Seagrave??
J Mee Samuels, who Gatlin beat by 0.07 in Estonia, just ran 10.03 +1.0 in Lucerne. Maybe Gatlin is faster right now than his 10.24 indicated.