Gay blitzes field

Gay blitzed the field in south London, carving 0.04 off the previous world 2010 best, shared by Bolt and former world record holder Asafa Powell to bring the curtain down on the penultimate Diamond League meet.

It was Gay’s third victory in Crystal Palace and the second fastest ever time in Great Britain and it came just a week after the American record holder inflicted world and Olympic champion Bolt’s first major defeat for two years.

“I feel good, I prayed that I would get to the race healthy and I did,” said Gay, whose personal best currently stands at 9.69.

“I had to make sure I stayed warm because it’s been getting cold. It’s been a good few weeks for me - I’ve got a great team around me and they must take some credit.”

After Powell made the decision to pull out of the race this was always going to be Gay against the clock.

Jamaica’s Yohan Blake clocked a personal best to finish second in 9.89 but he was the only other competitor to duck under ten seconds.

Initially Bolt was due to compete in Crystal Palace but that plan was scuppered last month when the Jamaican revealed unfavourable tax laws would prompt him to withdraw.

In any case, Bolt called time on his season after his defeat in Stockholm last week, citing an injured back and seemingly licking his wounds.

But while Bolt puts his feet up, Gay continues to add currency to the debate that next year’s World Championships in Daegu will be no forgone conclusion.

In the men’s triple jump, European and world champion Phillips Idowu seemed notably heavy-legged and could only manage fifth place.

Idowu ended up with a paltry best effort of 16.54m as Sweden’s Christian Olsson rolled back the years to take victory with an impressive 17.41.

France’s Teddy Tamgho, the world indoor champion and world record holder, was second after leaping to 17.27 while Cuba’s Alexis Copello was third.

In the women’s 5000m Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba continued her dominance of the event with an emphatic victory over Kenya’s world champion Vivian Cheruyiot, crossing the line in 14:36.41 minutes - 1.36 seconds ahead of her rival.

And in the women’s high jump, a best clearance of 2.01m was enough to give European and world champion Blanka Vlasic victory.

American Bernard Lagat spoiled double European champion Mo Farah's homecoming with victory in the 3,000m.

Lagat, former world champion over 1,500 and 5,000 metres, pulled away from Briton Farah and Australian Collis Birmingham on the final bend to ease to victory in seven minutes 40.36 seconds.

Farah, who won the European 5,000 and 10,000 titles last month, was roared on by a capacity crowd desperate to see him win but for once he had to settle for second in 7:40.75.

"My plan was just to hang back a little bit because I knew I hadn't raced in three weeks," said the 35-year-old Lagat.

"I wanted to see how I felt, and I felt good. Mo is a great athlete and I knew he was running strongly and I'm glad I was able to run with him really well today."

Olympic bronze medallist Bershawn Jackson had to battle to the line to hold off fast-finishing Javier Culson of Puerto Rico for victory in the 400 hurdles in 48.12 seconds.

European champion David Greene of Britain was third.

Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus maintained her dominance over Olympic and world champion Valerie Adams-Vili in the shot put this season with a best effort of 20.27.

Adams-Vili of New Zealand was second with 19.83.