TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Oblique Seville expressed his delight at claiming Jamaica’s first men’s world sprint title in a decade in front of the man he described as his inspiration: Usain Bolt.

Jamaican sprinting legend Bolt, with 11 world titles and eight Olympic golds to his name, was ecstatic as Seville ripped through the line at Tokyo’s National Stadium in a personal best of 9.77 seconds.

Bolt was the last male Jamaican sprinter to win a world title, when he claimed the 100-200m double at the 2015 Beijing world championships.

Kishane Thompson took silver in 9.82sec for a first Jamaican 1-2 in a global champs since the 2012 Olympics, while defending champion Noah Lyles of the United States rounded out the podium in 9.89sec.

“It is just tremendous feeling to compete in front of Usain here in Tokyo,” said Seville, who finished an agonising fourth at the last two world championships.

“His coach (Glen Mills) is my coach and I know that both of them are very proud of me right now.”

Seville added: “They were like, ‘(you) are going to be the world champion’. But I have proved, in front of him, that I am a champion and I am very proud of that.

“To win this gold medal is something special to me. Track and field is both mental and physical. But to be honest, I think I have mastered the mental part of it.

“Now, more gold medals!”

– Battle experience –
Thompson, who won Olympic silver behind Lyles at last year’s Paris Games, credited his “battle experience” for another silver.

“This was a new type of season for me,” he said. “I have never run so many races.

“It helped me to analyse and to see who I really am, to see every little bit of thing that I can work on in the future.”

Thompson added that he was not disappointed with finishing behind Seville, despite “everyone lining up on the line wanting to win”.

“If you did not want to win, why would you come here to compete? That is our respect for the sport. I go to the line, I want to win,” he said.

“Obligue goes to the line wanting to win and Noah the same. But once it is over, we can be friends again.”

Lyles, who is also the reigning Olympic champion, was left ruing an injury-delayed start to the season.

“I wish I had had more races before I got here,” he said. “The difference between the last year and this one was my injury.

“Unfortunately it made me rush a lot of things. I came to the world championships with only four races over 100 metres under my belt.

“Today was not the day to get the gold. The focus is now on 200m, that’s my bread and butter,” he said of the event in which he is a three-time world champion.