Athletics: Joint world record holder Justin Gatlin and former Olympic sprint queen Marion Jones breezed to the fastest 100 metres qualifying times at the US championships today.
Gatlin clocked an impressive 10.02 seconds and Jones ran 11.17 seconds in the first of three races for the sprinters because of a weather postponement yesterday.
The semi-finals and finals for both 100 metres are scheduled for later this evening.
Jones was in control for almost all her race and the 2000 triple Olympic champion, who is making a comeback after two poor seasons littered with doping allegations, said she was happy just to be running again.
"It was one of those that you just want to get done so you could move on to bigger and better (things)," the 30-year-old said.
Defending champion Lisa Barber did not start after experiencing hamstring problems in warm-ups, her coach said.
Gatlin started conservatively but quickly took the lead before easing up around 80 metres.
"I got out of the blocks after a false start (by Carlos Moore), took command of the race halfway through and got ready for the next round," Gatlin said. "It felt good, it felt easy."