The event was won by Yohan Blake of Jamaica, who became the youngest ever world champion in the 100 metres at 21 years, 245 days.

The highly favored defending champion and world record holder Usain Bolt was disqualified from the final for making a false start.

Abdouraim Haroun was the fastest preliminary runner, Keiron Rogers broke the Anguillian record, and while the slowest of the round was Sogelau Tuvalu, his time of 15.66 seconds was a personal best for the shot put specialist.

Dwain Chambers (a 2009 finalist) false-started, while sub-9.9 sec runners Michael Frater and Ngonidzashe Makusha also failed to progress.

Walter Dix made up ground on Collins, with the American edging into the silver medal position at the line by a margin of 0.01 seconds.