Justin Gatlin quicker than Usain Bolt in 100m qualifying at World Championships

American Justin Gatlin clocked the quickest time in the 100m heats at the World Championships in Beijing, 0.13 seconds faster than Usain Bolt.

Gatlin has the fastest time of the year so far (9.74) to his name and won his heat in 9.83s despite easing down in the closing stages.

Competing at the Bird's Nest stadium where he won three gold medals at the 2008 Olympics, Bolt also coasted over the line after making a good start, clocking 9.96s.

Trayvon Bromell (9.91), Jimmy Vicaut (9.92) and Asafa Powell (9.95) also recorded top-five times, while Great Britain's CJ Ujah and Richard Kilty also progressed to the semi-finals. James Dasaolu failed to qualify.

Sunday's final is expected to feature a showdown between Bolt and Gatlin, who won the 100m at the 2004 Olympics before serving a four-year ban for doping.

Jamaican Bolt has won the 100m at the last two Olympics but has lacked consistency recently and his season's best of 9.87 is well short of his world record of 9.58.

Gatlin was greeted by jeers on Saturday but stayed cool to produce an impressive performance and said: "I went out there and ran the first half of my race really well. I feel good.

"Bolt did the same thing in 2012. He raced slower in the first round, picked it up in the semis, and crushed it in the final."

Bolt was given his usual rapturous welcome and said: "It wasn't as great as I wanted it to be, but I wasn't expecting the first one to be great.

"I wasn't trying to run fast, I wanted to save as much energy as possible. I am in wonderful shape."

Of the Brits, Ujah looked comfortable as he clocked 10.05 to go through second in his heat, while Kilty was a fastest loser with a time of 10.12.

But Dasaolu was made to pay for an inexplicable error of judgement, losing all momentum as he started to look around when in the lead and finished fourth in 10.13 to miss out on qualification by a hundredth of a second.

The semi-finals and final will be on Sunday.