EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – World silver medallist Tyson Gay survived a sluggish start and painful right hip to qualify second in his 100 metres preliminary at the U.S. world championships trials Thursday.

Gay, the year’s fastest sprinter, clocked a wind-assisted time of 10.01 seconds to finish behind Ivory Williams as he pursues a rematch with Jamaican record holder Usain Bolt at August’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“My race was OK, the start was sluggish,” said the out-of-breath U.S. record holder. “I was a little jittery because I didn’t want a false start.”

Gay said he did not feel bad but wanted treatment on his hip to see how it reacted.

His time was the third best of the day behind a pair of 9.95s by Williams and Mike Rodgers, but it advanced him to Friday’s semi-final. The final is also Friday.

The surprise of the round was disgraced sprinter Justin Gatlin, who is in the second year of a comeback from a four-year doping ban. The former Olympic and world champion looked strong in winning his preliminary in 10.08, equal sixth best of the day, to advance.

“I feel rusty, dusty,” said Gatlin, who is running in his first U.S. championship in five years.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – World silver medallist Tyson Gay survived a sluggish start and painful right hip to qualify second in his 100 meters preliminary at the U.S. world championships trials Thursday.

Gay, the year’s fastest sprinter, clocked a wind-assisted time of 10.01 seconds to finish behind Ivory Williams as he pursues a rematch with Jamaican record holder Usain Bolt at August’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“My race was OK, the start was sluggish,” said the out-of-breath U.S. record holder. “I was a little jittery because I didn’t want a false start.”

Gay said he did not feel bad but wanted treatment on his hip to see how it reacted.

His time was the third best of the day behind a pair of 9.95s by Williams and Mike Rodgers, but it advanced him to Friday’s semi-final. The final is also Friday.

The surprise of the round was disgraced sprinter Justin Gatlin, who is in the second year of a comeback from a four-year doping ban. The former Olympic and world champion looked strong in winning his preliminary in 10.08, equal sixth best of the day, to advance.

“I feel rusty, dusty,” said Gatlin, who is running in his first U.S. championship in five years.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – World silver medallist Tyson Gay survived a sluggish start and painful right hip to qualify second in his 100 metres preliminary at the U.S. world championships trials on Thursday.

Gay, the year’s fastest sprinter, clocked a wind-assisted time of 10.01 seconds to finish behind Ivory Williams as he pursues a rematch with Jamaican record holder Usain Bolt at August’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“My race was OK, the start was sluggish,” said the out-of-breath U.S. record holder. “I was a little jittery because I didn’t want a false start.”

Gay said he did not feel bad but wanted treatment on his hip to see how it reacted.

His time was the third best of the day behind a pair of 9.95s by Williams and Mike Rodgers, but it advanced him to Friday’s semi-final. The final is also on Friday.

The surprise of the round was disgraced sprinter Justin Gatlin, who is in the second year of a comeback from a four-year doping ban. The former Olympic and world champion looked strong in winning his preliminary in 10.08, equal sixth best of the day, to advance.

“I feel rusty, dusty,” said Gatlin, who is running in his first U.S. championship in five years.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – The odds that Allyson Felix will do the 200-400 double at this year’s world championships are only 50-50 at the moment, the three-times world 200 meters champion sprinter said Wednesday.

Her performance in the 400 meters at this week’s U.S. championships, which are doubling as world championship trials, will go a long way to finalizing her decision, Felix told a news conference on the eve of the meeting.

“I want to see how the (three) rounds go and see from there. At this point I am 50-50,” said Felix.

“The fourth 200 is something that would be very special but the opportunity to double is something that does not come around a lot.”

Felix has an automatic berth in 200m as the defending champion but must finish in the top three in the 400m at the trials for a chance to double up the world championships, which take place from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea.

Felix said the positioning of the longer distance before the 200m in the world championship schedule was also a factor.

“If the 200 was first in the world championships, I would go for it,” she said. “For me it is easier to sprint first, and then come back.”

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – Justin Gatlin has recovered from illness and injury in time for this week’s U.S. national championships.

The former Olympic and world sprint champion, on the comeback trail after serving a doping ban, has been battling quadricep and hamstring problems and a strep throat.

For most athletes, the combination before a championship would spell disaster but Gatlin believes it could ultimately prove a blessing in disguise.

“It gave me three days to rest my legs, which were fatigued and tired,” he told Reuters. “I am feeling much better.”

The 29-year-old said he was planning to run in the 100 meters at the championships, which double as the U.S. trials for this year’s world titles in South Korea, but was still undecided about the 200m.

Gatlin needs to finish in the top three in the 100m to qualify for the world championships and faces a tough task against a field that includes four men who have posted faster times than him this year, including U.S. record holder Tyson Gay and Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix.

“The plan is to go with the 100, and if it goes well, I am going to stick with the 100,” Gatlin said.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – Three-times 200 metres world champion Allyson Felix will run the 400 metres at this weekend’s U.S. championships and her performance will help determine whether she attempts a 200m/400m double at August’s world championships, her manager said on Monday.

“This is the next step towards deciding if she is going to do the double,” Wes Felix told Reuters in a telephone interview. “It doesn’t mean she will do it for sure … but she would have to make the U.S. team in the 400 to be able to double.”

Felix has a bye for the 200 at the Daegu, South Korea, worlds as the defending champion but would need to finish among the top three in the 400 at the U.S. nationals to gain a spot on the American world team.

Her coach, Bob Kersee, told Reuters last month he was leaning towards Felix just running the 200 at the world championships. But Wes Felix said Kersee eventually left the decision to Allyson.

“She feels confident to be able to run at 400 metres, but running rounds (in the event) are a whole new thing for her,” Wes Felix said. “So she is going to use the U.S. championships to see what three rounds of the 400 feels like.”

Felix has the fastest 400 metres time in the world this season at 49.81 seconds, but the race will not be an easy one as 2009 world outdoor champion Sanya Richards-Ross and 2010 world indoor gold medallist Debbie Dunn will be in the race.

Americans Francena McCorory and Natasha Hastings also could be contenders.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – NFL owners and players completed two days of talks on Wednesday as they sought common ground for a new collective bargaining agreement to end a lockout now in its 13th week.

A joint statement confirmed only that the two sides held discussions under the auspices of federal Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan and that talks would continue, likely next week.

“At the request of Judge Boylan, both sides have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of the substance of the talks,” the statement said.

It marked the third group of meetings in two weeks as the two parties attempted to resolve a biter dispute that is threatening the 2011 season for American’s most popular professional sport.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and owners Jerry Richardson (Carolina), Clark Hunt (Kansas City), Robert Kraft (New England), John Mara (New York Giants) and Dean Spanos (San Diego) led the league delegation at the latest meetings in Maryland.

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and president Kevin Mawae also were present, along with players Domonique Foxworth, Tony Richardson, Jeff Saturday and Brian Waters.

The 32 league owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago for an update on the progress of the talks.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Ethiopian world record holder Kenenisa Bekele plans to return from a year-long calf injury in time to defend his 10,000 metres world championship in July, his manager said Tuesday.

The multiple Olympic and world gold medallist has not raced since January 2010 because of a ruptured muscle in his right calf but expects to run two or three tune-up races next month before seeking his fifth consecutive 10,000m world title at the August world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

“He will run the 10,000 at Daegu, that is for sure unless something happens,” Jos Hermens, told Reuters in a telephone from the Netherlands.

The decision puts on the line a remarkable streak for Bekele, who has never lost a 10,000 metres race on the track and is considered one of the all-time great distance runners.

His 12 victories at the distance since 2003 include two Olympic and four world titles. He also holds the world record at both 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

If he wins at Daegu, the 29-year-old would also become the first runner at any distance to win five consecutive outdoor world championships.

Five months of successful training have given Bekele the confidence he can add to his string of 20 individual global track and cross country gold medals, Hermens said.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Kenyan 800 metres world record holder David Rudisha’s long injury layoff should not affect his chances of winning gold at this year’s world championships in South Korea, his manager said on Friday.

Rudisha, who broke the world record twice in a week last year, has not competed since running in Australia in March because of tendinitis in his left ankle but is now ready to resume racing.

The IAAF world athlete of the year will return on June 24 in Nancy, France before his first real test at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on June 30.

His manager James Templeton told Reuters Rudisha was confident he would be over his injury problems and at his peak for the world championships in August.

“He told me ‘JT don’t worry, by the time August comes around, I will be at my very best,’” Templeton said in a telephone interview.

The tendinitis, on the inside of the left ankle around the shoe line, caused the 22-year-old Kenyan to miss three races, including Diamond League meetings in Doha and Rome.

“But he has been training nicely for the last three to three and a half weeks in training shoes,” Templeton said.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Former world champion Tyson Gay said he was unlikely to run the 200 meters at this month’s U.S. trials, effectively ending his chances of facing world record holder Usain Bolt over the distance at this year’s world championships in South Korea.

Although the American said he was still planning to run the 100m at the U.S. trials and hoped to face Bolt at the worlds, he said he was resigned to skipping the 200m because of fitness concerns.

“It’s about 90 percent (that he will miss the 200m),” he told Reuters Wednesday.

“I have honestly missed so much training this year because of my hip and everything, it is very difficult to say when I will run a 200.”

The world silver medalist, who ran the year’s fastest 100m when he clocked 9.79 seconds in a preliminary race in Florida last weekend, will face Jamaican training partner Steve Mullings at the New York Grand Prix on Saturday. Mullings is the season’s second-fastest sprinter, having run 9.80.

“I know how much training I have been missing,” Gay said.

“Some people think I may be playing games, but I don’t play games. I run with so much heart, I overcome pain.”