Gay survives 100 metres qualifying fright

By Gene Cherry

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - World champion Tyson Gay survived a scare to qualify from the opening round of the men's 100 metres at the U.S. Olympic trials on Saturday.

Gay grabbed a comfortable four-metre lead midway through the race but began to slow down after about 70 metres.

The rest of the field closed rapidly and Gay, now behind, had to make a surge for the finish line.

He made it, qualifying fourth in his heat in 10.14 seconds to advance to the quarter-finals later on Saturday.

"I'm OK," Gay said. "I just misjudged the (finish) line."

He was tied 11th fastest overall, with a total of 24 runners going through.

Former collegiate champion Walter Dix led qualifying by clocking 9.96 seconds.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)