Gay easily wins 100 into wind

His 9.84 clocking was the
second fastest ever run into a head wind.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Perhaps no sprinter ever ran so fast with the wind in his face than Tyson Gay did Friday night.

The former Arkansas sprinter sliced through a headwind for a 9.84-second clocking in the most one-sided 100-meter victory at the U.S. track and field championships since electronic timing was instituted 32 years ago.

Gay broke the meet record in the second-fastest 100 ever run into a headwind.

The only one faster was Maurice Greene’s 9.82 at the 2001 world championships in Edmonton. Gay ran into a wind of 1.12 mph, Greene’s was 0.45 mph.

“The best my body has felt in a long time,” he said.

The time matched his personal best set a year ago, only that race had a tailwind.

“I was hoping to get the world record (9.77),” he said.

“The wind conditions weren’t too friendly. At the same time, that’s basically my pr. I know I’m ready to run fast.”

Fastest time this year

His time was easily the world’s fastest this year and the fastest ever run by an American in the United States.

Already this year, Gay has wind-aided runs of 9.76 and 9.79.

Gay, also entered in the 200, had what he called his best start ever.

“It made me a little anxious,” he said, wondering just how fast he might go.

He sped away from the field in a breathtaking final 50 meters to win by 0.23 seconds. LSU’s Trindon Holliday was second in 10.07. NCAA champion Walter Dix was third at 10.09.

Gay is still coached by former Arkansas assistant Lance Brauman, who is serving a prison sentence in Kansas for embezzlement, theft and mail fraud.

Gay has a workout book from the coach and says the two talk regularly. Brauman has to make the call.

Gay was the 100 defending champion because last year’s winner, Justin Gatlin, was stripped of the title for testing positive for steroids last April.

The 24-year-old sprinter from Lexington, Ky., who now lives in Fayetteville, Ark., broke the meet record of 9.90 shared by former world record holders Greene and Leroy Burrell.

Women’s 100 winner

Torri Edwards, also running into a headwind, added another chapter to her triumphant comeback by winning the women’s 100 at 11.02 seconds.

Edwards faced a two-year suspension after testing positive for a banned stimulant at a meet in Martinique in 2004.

However, authorities accepted Edwards’ explanation that she took glucose that unbeknownst to her was tainted with the stimulant. She still was suspended but was reinstated in November 2005, nine months early, by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the next three years — the next two world championships and the Olympics,” Edwards said. “I want to go out there and get the medals that were left behind.”

World champion second

Reigning world champion Lauryn Williams was second at 11.16, with Carmelita Jeter third at 11.17.

Allyson Felix, the world 200 champion, was fourth but still will make the U.S. team for the world championships later this summer because Williams has an automatic spot in that meet as defending champion.

Bernard Lagat successfully defended his 5,000 title, running down Matt Tagenkamp over the final 100 meters to win in 13:30.73.

Lagat also is the defending U.S. 1,500 champion, the first double-winner in those events in the meet’s history.

The Kenyan-born runner, eligible to represent the United States at the world championships, took a victory lap with an American flag draped on his shoulders.