Usain Bolt regains 100-meter world title, beating Justin Gatlin and Nesta Carter for gold

MOSCOW — Usain Bolt restored order to the world of sprinting.

Reclaiming the 100-meter world championship gold he lost through a false start in South Korea two years ago, the Olympic champion again holds every major sprint title there is.

And he shook off rain, sore legs, a slow start and any doubters Sunday to prove there has never been anyone quite like him on the track.

"For me to come in and regain my title, it's always great to be back," Bolt said.

Despite getting late out of the blocks in the downpour, the Jamaican great steadily caught up with 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin and left the American behind with a trademark late burst of speed that no one can match.

"I came out here just to execute and get it right and to win," Bolt said. "That's what I do."

Gatlin made it more of race than many thought he could, staying ahead until the closing stages.

If Bolt's result was predictable, his demeanor was not.

At 26, he has dispensed with most of the showmanship that accompanied his fame. For big victories, he used to start celebrating well before the finish line. This time, he remained expressionless as he ran across the line, watching his performance on the giant screen in front of him.

It took him several minutes of understated celebrations before he unleashed the mighty "Lightning Bolt" pose that has become his global signature.

His winning time was almost irrelevant, 9.77 seconds — 0.19 seconds slower than his world record. Gatlin crossed second in 9.85 while Bolt's teammate, Nesta Carter, took bronze in 9.95.

If Bolt did not produce a sense of theater himself, the elements did it for him. Lightning flashed over Luzhniki Stadium half an hour before the final, and it began pouring as the finalists entered the arena.

It was for him. Not his opponents.

Gatlin had beaten Bolt in Rome early this season, and could take some hope from a blistering start on Sunday. But once those huge strides of Bolt started catching up with him, it was all over.

Bolt will now go for another golden triple, just like the one he had at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games, and also at the 2009 worlds in Berlin.

He has the heats of the 200 on Friday and hopefully the 4x100 final on Sunday's closing day.

Tirunesh Dibaba also made a golden start in her quest for a long-distance double. The Ethiopian confirmed herself as one of the greatest long-distance runners in history, right up there with former teammates Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.

And Sunday's race was easy for the champion. She was tucked in the wake of Japanese runner Hitomi Niiya for most of the race and let her finishing kick take care of the rest with 500 meters to go.

As hard as Gladys Cherono tried to keep up, the Kenyan had to settle for silver. Dibaba's teammate, Belaynesh Oljira, won bronze.

It was also a good day for the Americans.

Ashton Eaton added the world title to his Olympic decathlon gold medal and Brittney Reese reigned over the long jump for the third time in a row.

Eaton blazed away from competition on the second and final day of the 10-discipline event and was able to cruise home in the 1,500 to claim the biggest title which had still eluded him.

Finishing sixth in the final race in the muggy heat of 86 degrees was more than enough for Eaton, who won with 8,809 points.

For Reese, it was another world championships of living dangerously, reaching the final as the last qualifier.

On Sunday, though, a huge jump of 23 feet on her second attempt was good for gold, beating Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria by less than an inch.

At 26, the gold made Reese the defining long jumper of the past half decade with six straight major international titles. She celebrated in a T-shirt that read "Unleash the Beast," referring to the nickname she earned as a relentless competitor.

Also, host nation Russia won its first gold medal of the championships when 20-year-old Aleksandr Ivanov took gold in the 20-kilometer walk despite the heat and humidity.