American sprinter Justin Gatlin clocked 10.02 seconds to claim the 100 meters at a Golden Grand Prix event on Sunday in Kawasaki, Japan.

Gatlin passed over the finish line 0.19 seconds ahead of  Ryota Yamagata of Japan and the 2016 World Indoor Championships 60 meters bronze medalist Ramon Gittens of Barbados, who clocked 10.26 seconds.

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"The race felt good," Gatlin, who has a personal best record of 9.74 seconds and a two-time World Indoor champion in the 60-meter dash, said. "I knew that I was going to have a headwind after practice yesterday. I talked to my coach over the phone and he told me to just go through and have a good start and finish the race."

Gatlin, 34, said that he is delighted with the way he is running at this point of the season as he prepares to challenge the fastest man ever timed Usain Bolt of Jamaica at the upcoming  2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August.

The Brooklyn New York native earned a bronze medal finish at the London 2012 Olympics in the 100-meter run. Gatlin ran a time of 9.79 seconds and came third while Jamaican Yohan Blake ran in 9.75 seconds which was good for silver. Usain Bolt completed the course in 9.63 seconds, which is the standing Olympic record, and claimed the gold.

While American sprinter and long jumper Tianna Bartoletta won the women's 100 with a time of 11.23, .07 seconds ahead of Nigerian Blessing .  Bartoletta's fellow American Barbara Pierre came third with 11.40 seconds.

Bartoletta, 30, was the 2015 World Championship gold medalist in the long jump event. Bartoletta had a leap of 6.61 meters, defeating Australia's Brooke Stratton (6.55) and Chinese Xu Xiaoling, who was third with a jump of 6.47.

Xie Wenjun of China won the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.36, .23 seconds ahead of compatriot Zhang Honglin. Hideki Omuro of Japan came third with a time of 13.61.

TagsJustin Gatlin, usain bolt, Golden Grand Prix, Xie wenjun, Rio Olympics 2016