US veteran Tyson Gay and teenager Trayvon Bromell set up a mouth-watering 100m showdown of sprint generations on Friday at the US athletics championships.
Bromell, a 19-year-old junior at Baylor University, won his semi-final in a wind-aided 9.76 sec to lead the way into the evening’s final.
Gay, a 2007 treble world champion back from a one-year doping ban and trying to get back to the world championships for the first time since 2009, won his semi-final in a wind-aided 9.79sec.
“Felt good,” the 32-year-old Gay said. “Felt relaxed.”
The top three finishers in Friday night’s final book places for the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing.
American Justin Gatlin, who owns the top times in the world this year in both the 100m and 200m, has a bye into the 100m in Beijing thanks to his Diamond League title last year and is focusing on securing a 200m Beijing berth this weekend.