Gay's wisdom sees off young pretenders on his road to redemption

Tyson Gay claimed experience was the key to his victory on Friday night in the US trials for the World Championships in Beijing in August. Gay, 32, won the 100 metres in 9.87 seconds ahead of 19-year-old Trayvon Bromell, who became the first teenager to make the US team for the World Championships. "That kid is tough. Bromell got out good," admitted Gay. "It was just one of those 10-years-of-experience, dig-down moments. It felt good to win." 

Tyson Gay will compete in his first World Championships since 2011. Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

Bromell finished second in 9.96 seconds just ahead of Mike Rodgers.

The trio will join Justin Gatlin in the US team at the World Championships in the Chinese capital between 22 and 30 August.

Gatlin, 33, has a bye into the 100 metres in Beijing thanks to his 2014 Diamond League title. He is focusing on the 200 metres and a possible tilt at Usain Bolt's dominance of the 100 and 200 metres.

Gay is simply looking for redemption at the Beijing meeting.

He won gold in the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres at the 2007 tournament in Osaka in Japan.

A 100 metres silver medal came at the 2009 event while injury cost him a place at the 2011 tournament in South Korea. Gay withdrew from the 2013 World Championships in Moscow as he awaited the verdict in his doping case.

"Just being able to come back from a mistake and to show the world that you can make up for the mistake - it means a lot," said Gay.

The American sprinters will be trying to break the grip of the Jamaicans in the sprinting.

Two years ago, Jamaican men were first and third in the 100 metres and first and second in the 200 metres.

In the women's, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the 100 and 200 metres. Her winning time in the 100 metres in Moscow two years ago was 10.71 seconds. At the trials, her potential rivals outlined their intent.

Tori Bowie won it in 10.81 seconds. English Gardner was second in 10.86 and Jasmine Todd was third in 10.92.

Six of the runners finished under 11 seconds. "I for sure think we made a statement to the world," Bowie said after the race.

An early casualty of that menace was Carmelita Jeter, the 2011 100 metres world champion and three-time Olympic medallist who missed out on a Beijing berth, finishing seventh in 11.01 seconds.

Meanwhile in Kingston, Fraser-Pryce suggested she had no intention of relinquishing her crown. In the Jamaican trials for Beijing, she ran a world-leading time of 10.79 seconds for the 100 metres. Natasha Morrison was second in 11.03 seconds and Veronica Campbell-Brown was third in 11.06 seconds.

"The field was good as usual,” said Fraser-Pryce. “It was more about executing a good race and the fact that I had missed a few races because of my hamstring. I just wanted to come out and put a solid race together. There’s still work to be done, it is still only June and the World Championships are all the way in August."

Former men's world record holder Asafa Powell won his sixth national title and his first since 2011. He came in ahead of Nickel Ashmeade and Kemar Bailey-Cole.

The 32-year-old was one of the big attractions at the meeting in Kingston in the absence of Usain Bolt. "I am feeling very strong," said Powell. "I need to work on the first part of the race; I have been focusing too much on the last 50 metres. I need to go back and work on the first part."

The meeting was also notable for the failure of the 2011 100 metres world champion Yohan Blake to make the Jamaican team.

Blake, 25, nicknamed ‘the Beast’, anointed himself at the 2012 Olympic Games as the heir to Bolt after winning silver medals in the 100 and 200 metres.