When Justin Gatlin ran a season's opener of 9.95 last weekend in Osaka, Japan with what he said was a good start but a terrible pick-up, we thought we might be in for something special from the World and Olympic 100m champion.

But it came sooner than even he expected, as he admitted after breaking the World record at the Qatar Super Grand Prix leg of the IAAF World Athletics Tour in Doha.

Having failed to win on two previous visits to the Doha Super Grand Prix, Gatlin tore to a track and meet record in the heats, 9.85 (wind 1.1m/ s), - to match his own personal best which he closked when winning the Olympic title in 2004 - and set up high anticipation for the final barely an hour later.

With Shawn Crawford (USA) and Francis Obikwelu - the men who beat him in the last 2 years - alongside, Gatlin blasted down the track to stop the clock at 9.77,which was almost as quickly modified (as were all the original times) to 9.76.

And Justin Gatlin, World and Olympic 100m champion, was now also the World record holder. Full House! The world had a new fastest man.

Less than a year since Asafa Powell had run 9.77 in Athens, but who then got injured so badly in a face-off with Gatlin that the Jamaican missed the World championships in Helsinki, the world has been waiting for their duels and potential World records.

Our appetites were whetted last weekend when, several hours after Gatlin's run at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Osaka, Japan, Powell also ran 9.95 in Kingston, Jamaica. But no one, least of all Gatlin expected 9.76 so soon. In the event, he felt he could and should have been faster.

"It wasn't my best race, I can go faster," he said breathlessly right afterwards. "If everything had gone right, I feel I could have done 9.73 seconds tonight."

"I didn't think I was on such good form, it seems strange to have already achieved my season's target."

"Everyone has been saying you've won World and Olympic golds, when are you gonna break the World record? Well, now I've got it."

Just about the only person in the stadium not overjoyed was Asafa Powell's manager, Paul Doyle. But that was only a brief jokey interlude. Doyle is as nice a guy as Gatlin and Powell, and he quickly added, "look, it's great for the sport."

And so it is. It seems like we've been waiting a long time for such inspiring news, and in Gatlin's wake the added bonus of an African record came with Nigeria's Olusoji Fasuba's 9.84 run.

Some additional stats regarding Gatlin's WR:

>>fastest heat ever 9.85

>>first ever WR set in Qatar

>>first 100 m WR set in May in automatic timing era

>>the best double on one day 9.85+9.76

>>Fasuba's 9.84 equalled the best ever time for 2nd place (Surin in Sevilla 1999)