BEIJING — A night at the world championships that many feared would become a cautionary tale for track and field turned into a tale of two stumbles instead.
Usain Bolt stumbled when he still had time to recover: in the opening phase of his 100-meter semifinal heat. Justin Gatlin lost his balance when he was nearly out of running room: in the closing strides of the final.
As a result, and by the fast-twitch margin of just one-hundredth of a second, Bolt remained Bolt: a superstar sprinter able to seize the big moment and the big race even with logic and better-prepared opposition against him.
Bolt returned to Beijing and the Bird’s Nest — the stadium where he burst to prominence at the 2008 Olympics — with a bit less swagger than usual, having competed little in the last two seasons because of injuries.
But on Sunday night, he still found a way to break his tie with Carl Lewis by winning his record ninth world championships gold medal.
In a final billed as a morality play, Bolt finished in 9.79 seconds. Gatlin, a 33-year-old American who has twice served doping suspensions, finished in 9.80.
“I definitely think this was my hardest race,” said Bolt, who turned 29 on Friday. “I’ve been through a lot this season. It’s been rough, and Justin has been running great and has been showing up running fast times. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Two world championships newcomers won bronze medals as Trayvon Bromell, a 20-year-old American, and Andre De Grasse, 20, from Canada, each finished in 9.92 seconds.
Bromell, who attends Baylor, is the youngest U.S. man to have made a world championships team in the 100. Slight of build and only 5 feet 9 inches, he is physically unimposing but beautifully balanced and fluid in full flight. He and De Grasse look very much like Generation Next.
For now, though, Bolt still reigns, even if he did not come close to his world record, 9.58 seconds, set at the world championships in Berlin in 2009.
This was by far Bolt’s narrowest margin of victory in an individual championship race since he took command of the sprints, and must have come as quite a surprise to any Beijingers who were at the Bird’s Nest in 2008 when Bolt romped to a world record in the 100 despite easing up in the closing meters.