Tyson Gay won the 100m world title in a time of 9.85 seconds, edging Derrick Atkins into second and world record holder Asafa Powell into a disappointing third in 9.96sec.

Unbeaten this season, Gay posted another sub-ten-second time running into a minor headwind to confirm his dominance in the event and claim his first victory at a major championship.

Powell admitted that he had made errors of judgement in the race, saying: "I stumbled out of the blocks but I was leading until the end. I made a couple of mistakes and I lost the race. I panicked. I felt him coming on my shoulder and that slowed me down."

Atkins took the silver medal with a Bahamas national record of 9.91sec, and said: "I wanted gold all season and I got silver but I am happy with it. I am very happy with the national record and I am very happy that Bahamas athletics is in such good shape."

Britain's Marlon Devonish could not emulate Kelly Sotherton's earlier medal success and finished sixth.

"I'm disappointed, I am having the season of my life and I should not be disappointed. I would have liked to be dipping at the line and running a sub-10 would have been a beautiful thing," said Devonish, who produced a personal best of 10.06secs in Lausanne last month.

"Sixth is the worst place I have finished in the world this year, I have usually been third at worst so it feels weird coming sixth and I should have done better. My target was to get into the final and run the race of my life in the final. I did everything I wanted to do, but it didn't quite happen this time.

"It's a final, I can't complain, but I would have loved to have got a medal and ran quicker but the season is not finished and I'm looking to go on and run a bit quicker."