England’s Adam Gemili failed to become Briton’s first 100m global champion in 21 years but grabbed silver as Kemar Bailey-Cole secured Jamaica’s third straight Commonwealth Games gold in the event in Glasgow.
The 20-year-old Gemili finished in 10.10 seconds but it wasn’t enough as Bailey-Cole staged a dramatic comeback in the final 30m to take victory in a season’s best of 10 seconds flat.
Fellow-countryman, Nickel Ashmeade, took bronze.
But despite another example of the depth of Jamaican sprinting, Gemili will grab the headlines after winning the first major medal of his career.
After dominating the preliminary round, Gemili qualified second fastest for the final with a time of 10.07 seconds, behind Bailey-Cole, but the fastest man in the field where Richard Thompson dropped out as did Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Richard Kilty.
The former world junior champion had targeted becoming just the sixth British man to run under 10 seconds, and with the marquee names of Olympic champion, Usain Bolt, and world gold medalist, Yohan Blake, absent, a new star would surely be born in Glasgow.
And Gemili had threatened to claim gold after a good start and led after 60m but the power of Bailey-Cole – already Olympic champion in the 4x100m at London 2012 – stormed clear.
Gemili’s lunge for the line saw him claim silver, however, pipping Ashmeade who had to settle for bronze.
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