DOHA — Christian Coleman stormed to victory in the 100 meters at the World Championships in Doha on Saturday, emphatically shrugging off the missed drug test controversy which had threatened to derail his career.

The 23-year-old American, who escaped a doping ban earlier this month on a technicality, swept over the finish line in a world-leading 9.76sec to claim his first major outdoor championship gold medal.

Defending champion Justin Gatlin took silver in 9.89sec while Canada's Andre De Grasse claimed bronze in 9.90sec. It completed a flawless championship campaign for Coleman, who had been the only man to duck under 10 seconds in both Friday's opening rounds and Saturday's semifinals.

Coleman's victory was never in doubt, the stocky 2017 World Championship silver medalist exploding out of the blocks to take the lead over the opening 20 meters.

The American let out a roar of triumph as he crossed the line before punching the air in jubilation after a performance which makes him the sixth fastest man in history.

"I am humble, I am just here to win titles," an elated Coleman said afterwards.

"It is an incredible time, it is a PR for me. I think the sky's the limit, I think I still have a lot of things I can work on and improve, I think I can keep dropping my time," added the 60m indoor world record holder.

The victory was the culmination of a roller-coaster season for Coleman, whose participation in the championships had been in doubt until only a few weeks ago.

Coleman, who has strongly denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs, was left facing a lengthy suspension in August after it emerged he had registered three drug-testing "whereabouts" failures in a 12-month period.

The violation is regarded as equivalent to a failed drug test and often followed by a ban of up to two years.

Yet Coleman avoided a sanction when the case against him was dropped in early September because of a technicality.

Coleman had recorded his first whereabouts failure on June 6 last year, before two more offenses in Jan. 16 and April 26 this year.

However the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) abruptly withdrew the charges on Sept. 2 after a review of the rules regarding how the 12-month window should be calculated.

Under an obscure regulation in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI) guidelines, Coleman's first missed case in June last year should have been backdated to the first day of that quarter, April 1, 2018.

That meant the dates of the three offenses fell outside the required 12-month time-frame for a doping offense to have occurred — leaving Coleman in the clear and free to compete in Doha.

Jamaica's Tajay Gayle upset the long jump form book to strike gold at the World Championships in Doha on Saturday, producing the leap of his life to defeat favorite Juan Miguel Echevarria.

The 23-year-old Gayle soared into gold medal contention with his fourth jump, launching himself 8.69 meters and into the lead.

It was a new personal best for Gayle, whose previous longest leap was 8.32m set in July this year, and put him tenth on the all-time list.

Jeff Henderson of the United States took the silver medal with a best jump of 8.39m, while world leader Echevarria of Cuba could only muster 8.34m. Defending champion Luvo Manyonga of South Africa had to settle for fourth with a best jump of 8.28m.

Also, Sifan Hassan secured her first global outdoor title on Saturday as the Dutch runner won the women's 10,000 meters in the fastest time this year of 30min 17.62sec.

The 26-year-old Ethiopian-born athlete — who came to the Netherlands aged 15 as a refugee — stormed home clear of former compatriot Letesenbet Gidey who clocked 30:21.23. Agnes Tirop of Kenya took bronze in 30:25.20.

Meanwhile, Norway's defending champion Karsten Warholm and American pretender Rai Benjamin will go toe-to-toe in Monday's 400 meters hurdles final after both eased through their semifinals on Saturday.

Warholm and Benjamin — whose other main rival Qatar's Abderrahman Samba also progressed — are seen as dangers to breaking Kevin Young's 27-year-old world record of 46.78sec.

They both went under the 47-second barrier in the race of the season so far in Zurich last month. However, 23-year-old Warholm professed to nerves.

"I am very nervous to be honest and I think it is pretty obvious why," said the charismatic Norwegian. "It has been a final everyone has been talking about.

"The level is very, very high and I am going to have dig very deep to have a chance of winning. I am not looking forward to that tough and painful experience on Monday but I am ready."

Benjamin, son of former West Indies pace bowler Winston Benjamin, beat Samba in his semifinal and struck a much more relaxed tone in Doha than his rival. "I am feeling pretty chilled and relaxed," he said.

"It is just another day, we do this all the time. It's not as if we don't race against each other the whole season. I am excited for Monday and very relaxed, like I have been since we got here."

Benjamin, who said his father had rung him from the United States to offer advice but sadly he had been asleep due to the time difference, said he knew what he had to do if he was to get the better of Warholm.

"The hurdles is not a race you can make ground up in if you slouch," he said. "I did in Zurich and paid the price so I cannot lose focus for two seconds."

Benjamin admitted to feeling the effects of a long season, and an unusually late world championships, and said he could not predict what would happen in the final.

"I don't even know if the sun is going to come up on Monday," he said with a smile. "We will see what happens but I have not come here to be second or third, I have come here to win."

Benjamin said a world record could result from his rivalry with Warholm "I think so, that it is possible," he said. "Everyone is running well.

"I am not worried too much about the record, the gold will do."

He stressed he would not forsake Antigua — the birthplace of his parents which he represented at a world youth championships — entirely when he springs from the blocks on Monday.

"It is where my parents are form and I still have family there," he said. "So part of me will of course be Antiguan." — AFP