The former Dagenham and Redbridge footballer thus follows in the footsteps of previous British world junior champions at this distance – Christian Malcolm in 1998, Mark Lewis-Francis in 2000 and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in 2006.

And his triumph came in the same Montjuïc Stadium where Britain's Linford Christie took Olympic 100m gold in 1992.

Only the double European champion and world 200m bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre of France has run faster than Gemili (pictured above) among Europeans this season, clocking 10.04.

Gemili's time also puts him sixth in the all-time rankings for his under-20 age group.

"This is a massive stepping stone for the Olympics," he said.

"If I had only made the final, it would have been a great achievement, to win makes it huge."


Gemili added: "I just told myself to stay relaxed and stay focused.

"I am not going to lie, I was nervous before the race – it's a World Junior final, it's in this stadium in Barcelona, how can you not be nervous?

"But you need to use your nerves in a good way, try to use them to help you run and I did it.

"I want to thank my mum, my dad, my sister, my coach, my training group and the whole of the GB team, the support they have given me is amazing, especially in the last few days.

"I could hear them all cheering for me on the start line, it really did help."

When asked if a sub-10 time is on the cards at the Olympic Games, Gemili replied: "I honestly do not know.

"I am feeling good and I am running well, I just feel there is a whole lot more to come."


Gemili (pictured above, right), who announced his arrival as a top flight sprinter in May when he clocked 10.08 in winning at Regensburg in Germany, subsequently earned an Olympic place by finishing second behind Chambers (pictured above, centre) in the trials at Birmingham.

He was quickly out of the blocks to establish a lead at the halfway point which he never looked likely to relinquish as he claimed the first gold of the Championships for the British team.

There were personal bests too for the silver and bronze medallists – Aaron Ernest of the United States, who recorded 10.17, and Odean Skeen of Jamaica who was third in 10.28.

Gemili's British teammate Chijindu Ujah also improved his personal best – for the second time in two days – as he finished sixth in 10.39.

Earlier in the day, Gemili had won his semi-final in a time of 10.18s, while Ujah shaved 0.04 off his PB with a 10.40 clocking.

Gemili's performance, which betters the 10.08 he recorded earlier in the season in Regensburg, was hailed as "fantastic" by sprint legend Maurice Greene, who was trackside and interviewed the newly established 100m champion after the race in what was the first of a long series of media requests.


In the women's 100m final, 17-year-old Sophie Papps (pictured above, centre) ran 11.54 to finish sixth in a final won by Anthonique Strachan (pictured above, left) of the Bahamas in a time of 11.20, the best junior performance so far this year, with Nimet Karakuş of Turkey second in 11.36.

Emily Gorecka, who had provided Britain with their first medal of the Championships the previous evening with bronze in the 3,000m, elected not to run the 5,000m as well.

Russia's Sergey Morgunov was in a class of his own in the long jump as he set a 8.09 metres top mark – more than 20cm better than second placed Andreas Trajkovski of Denmark.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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