US veteran Tyson Gay won the 100m at the US athletics championships in 9.87sec to book his first trip to the World Championships since 2009.

Gay, 32 and trying to regain the sport's summit after a one-year drugs ban, triumphed Friday in a battle of generations as he powered past Trayvon Bromell in the final 30 meters to relegate the 19-year-old to second in 9.96.

Mike Rodgers was third in 9.97 to grab the final berth on offer for the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing.

The US will in fact field four 100m runners, with twice-banned Justin Gatlin owning a bye thanks to his 2014 Diamond League title.

Gatlin, who owns the top times in the world this year at both 100m (9.74) and 200m (19.68), is focusing this week on the 200 in a bid to mount a double world challenge to Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt.

Bromell, a junior at Baylor University, had posted the top time in Friday's semi-finals, a wind-aided 9.76, but didn't have enough left to hold off Gay in the final.
Source: AFP