Sluggish Gay qualifies second in US Worlds' trials

Gay, the year's fastest sprinter, clocked a wind-assisted time of 10.01 seconds to finish behind Ivory Williams as he pursues a rematch with Jamaican record holder Usain Bolt at
August's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Gay said he did not feel bad but wanted treatment on his hip to see how it reacted. His time was the third best of the day behind a pair of 9.95s by Williams and Mike Rodgers, but it advanced him to Friday's semifinal.

The surprise of the round was disgraced sprinter Justin Gatlin. The former Olympic and World champion looked strong in winning his preliminary in 10.08, equal sixth best of the day, to advance.

The women's 100 preliminaries were also fast with Marshevet Myers clocking 10.87 seconds and top-ranked Carmelita Jeter a hundredth of a second behind. Allyson Felix eased through her opening race in the 400 metres, winning the preliminary in 51.79 seconds, fourth fastest time of the day.

Defending world 400 champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who is also contemplating a 200/400 double in August, won her preliminary in 52.02 seconds but said she would not run Saturday's final.

US indoor 400-metre record holder Francena McCorory had the day's fastest time of 51.46. Olympic bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan won the women's 10,000M in 30:59.97 with local favourite Galen Rupp the men's winner in 28:38.17.

Pentathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton set himself up for a big decathlon score with a personal best 4,604 points for the first five events. The 23-year-old led Olympic champion Bryan Clay by 408 points heading into Friday's closing events.