| Final 19:05 wind +1.2m/s | time | L | React. | | 1. Carl Lewis |  USA | 9.86s WR | 5 | 0.140 | | 2. Leroy Burrell | USA | 9.88s | 3 | 0.120 | | 3. Dennis Mitchell | USA | 9.91s | 6 | 0.090 | | 4. Linford Christie |  GBR | 9.92s | 4 | 0.126 | | 5. Frank Fredericks |  NAM | 9.95s | 7 | 0.151 | | 6. Raymond Stewart |  JAM | 9.96s | 2 | 0.114 | | 7. Robson Caetano Da Silva |  BRA | 10.12s | 8 | 0.172 | | 8. Bruny Surin |  CAN | 10.14s | 1 | 0.148 |
|
|
The final, in which 1987 silver medallist Ray Stewart found a Jamaican record of 9.96 good enough for only sixth place, was generally regard-ed as the greatest sprint race of all-time. Once again Carl Lewis was a key figure. Since retaining his Olympic title in 1988, he had been over-shadowed by another American, Leroy Burrell, who improved the world record to 9.90 at the 1991 US Championships.
In the second round, Lewis clocked a windy 9.80. Two other men broke 10 seconds on what proved to be a very fast surface. The semi-finals were won by Lewis and Burrell in 9.93 and 9.94 respectively – the fastest preliminaries ever.
The two principals were drawn together for the final, but the best start was made by the third American, Mitchell. At halfway Stewart (5.54) had edged in front with Lewis sixth. Burrell took over only to be passed at 90m by Lewis’s spectacular finish. The 30 year-old American won with new world record figures of 9.86. Burrell was also also inside the old record. Mitchell took the bronze and became the third-fastest man in history.
“He passed us like we were standing still,” said Burrell, who ran the second half of the race in 4.33 compared to Lewis’s 4.25.
There was some controversy after the race when it was eventually revealed that Mitchell’s reaction time at the start had been 0.09 – so quick that an automatic false start alert would have been sounded on the starter’s headphones. It transpired that the starter chose not to wear headphones. He was not obliged to do so, as IAAF rule 122.1 stated at the time: “The starter shall have the entire control of the competitors on their marks and shall be the sole judge of any fact connected with the start of the race.”
|
| | | First 4 from each Semi-Final advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 wind +1.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Carl Lewis | USA | 9.93s | 5 | | 2. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 10.02s | 6 | | 3. Bruny Surin | CAN | 10.07s | 4 | | 4. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 10.13s | 2 | | 5. Olapade Adeniken |  NGR | 10.17s | 3 | | 6. Jean-Olivier Zirignon |  CIV | 10.25s | 1 | | 7. Salaam Gariba |  GHA | 10.37s | 8 | | 8. Michael Green | JAM | 10.38s | 7 |
|
|
| Semi 2 wind +1.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Leroy Burrell | USA | 9.94s | 2 | | 2. Dennis Mitchell | USA | 9.99s | 4 | | 3. Linford Christie | GBR | 9.99s | 5 | | 4. Raymond Stewart | JAM | 10.03s | 3 | | 5. Daniel Sangouma |  FRA | 10.18s | 6 | | 6. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 10.18s | 7 | | 7. Davidson Ezinwa | NGR | 10.20s | 1 | | 8. Ezio Madonia |  ITA | 10.33s | 8 |
|
|
| | | First 4 from each Quarter-Final advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Quarter 1 wind +4.6m/s | time | L | | 1. Raymond Stewart | JAM | 10.02s | 3 | | 2. Dennis Mitchell | USA | 10.05s | 5 | | 3. Davidson Ezinwa | NGR | 10.23s | 6 | | 4. Ezio Madonia | ITA | 10.24s | 1 | | 5. Max Moriniere | FRA | 10.24s | 4 | | 6. Vitaliy Savin |  URS | 10.26s | 8 | | 7. Jacek Marlicki |  POL | 10.38s | 2 | | 8. Tetsuya Yamashita |  JPN | 10.56s | 7 |
|
|
| Quarter 2 wind +4.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Carl Lewis | USA | 9.80s | 5 | | 2. Linford Christie | GBR | 9.90s | 2 | | 3. Bruny Surin | CAN | 10.01s | 3 | | 4. Michael Green | JAM | 10.18s | 4 | | 5. Emmanuel Tuffour | GHA | 10.19s | 6 | | 6. Arnaldo Oliveira Silva | BRA | 10.32s | 7 | | 7. Carlos Moreno |  CHI | 10.40s | 1 | | 8. Chidi Imoh | NGR | 10.46s | 8 |
|
| Quarter 3 wind +1.5m/s | time | L | | 1. Leroy Burrell | USA | 10.11s | 4 | | 2. Daniel Sangouma | FRA | 10.23s | 3 | | 3. Jean-Olivier Zirignon | CIV | 10.30s | 6 | | 4. Salaam Gariba | GHA | 10.43s | 2 | | 5. Darren Braithwaite | GBR | 10.45s | 5 | | 6. Menelik Lawson |  TOG | 10.60s | 7 | | 7. Tatsuo Sugimoto | JPN | 10.61s | 1 | | -. Andreas Berger |  AUT | DNS | 8 |
|
|
| Quarter 4 wind +4.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 9.89s | 4 | | 2. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | 10.00s | 3 | | 3. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 10.01s | 6 | | 4. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 10.08s | 5 | | 5. Satoru Inoue | JPN | 10.21s | 1 | | 6. Oleg Kramarenko | URS | 10.23s | 8 | | 7. Attila Kovacs |  HUN | 10.23s | 2 | | 8. Charles-Louis Seck |  SEN | 10.46s | 7 |
|
|
Heats - Saturday 24.08 9:00 | | First 3 from each Heat and 2 best times advanced to Quarter-Finals. |
| Heat 1 wind +1.6m/s | time | L | | 1. Daniel Sangouma | FRA | 10.27s | 3 | | 2. Darren Braithwaite | GBR | 10.31s | 7 | | 3. Menelik Lawson | TOG | 10.38s | 5 | | 4. Chidi Imoh | NGR | 10.42s | 4 | | 5. Neville Hodge |  ISV | 10.51s | 6 | | 6. Thabani Gonye |  ZIM | 10.92s | 2 | | 7. Botlhoko Shebe |  LES | 10.96s | 1 | | 8. Ahmed Shageef |  MLD | 11.18s | 8 |
|
|
| Heat 2 wind +0.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 10.21s | 4 | | 2. Emmanuel Tuffour | GHA | 10.36s | 2 | | 3. Jacek Marlicki | POL | 10.49s | 1 | | 4. Daniel Cojocaru |  ROU | 10.51s | 7 | | 5. Sun-Kuk Jin |  KOR | 10.67s | 5 | | 6. Visut Watanasin |  THA | 10.68s | 6 | | 7. Mark Sherwin |  CKI | 11.35s | 8 | | -. Karim Abdul |  AFG | DNS | 3 |
|
| Heat 3 wind +1.0m/s | time | L | | 1. Dennis Mitchell | USA | 10.27s | 5 | | 2. Michael Green | JAM | 10.38s | 4 | | 3. Salaam Gariba | GHA | 10.38s | 3 | | 4. Joel Lamela |  CUB | 10.53s | 1 | | 5. Kennedy Ondiek |  KEN | 10.57s | 7 | | 6. Joel Otim |  UGA | 11.06s | 2 | | -. Mohamed Abderrehin |  LBA | DNS | 6 |
|
|
| Heat 4 wind +0.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Leroy Burrell | USA | 10.17s | 5 | | 2. Jean-Olivier Zirignon | CIV | 10.20s | 7 | | 3. Arnaldo Oliveira Silva | BRA | 10.42s | 3 | | 4. Steffen Bringmann |  GER | 10.47s | 2 | | 5. Jason Livingston | GBR | 10.57s | 1 | | 6. Florencio Aguilar |  PAN | 10.85s | 6 | | 7. Dudley Den Dulk |  AHO | 11.10s | 4 |
|
| Heat 5 wind +1.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Davidson Ezinwa | NGR | 10.25s | 5 | | 2. Max Moriniere | FRA | 10.28s | 7 | | 3. Oleg Kramarenko | URS | 10.36s | 1 | | 4. Attila Kovacs | HUN | 10.39s | 3 | | 5. Juan Jesus Trapero | ESP | 10.44s | 4 | | 6. Eduardo Nava | MEX | 10.56s | 6 | | 7. Edmund Estaphane | STL | 10.62s | 2 | | 8. Trevor Davis | ANG | 11.16s | 8 |
|
|
| Heat 6 wind +0.2m/s | time | L | | 1. Raymond Stewart | JAM | 10.17s | 4 | | 2. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 10.24s | 1 | | 3. Tatsuo Sugimoto | JPN | 10.58s | 3 | | 4. Valentin Atanasov |  BUL | 10.63s | 5 | | 5. Khalid Juma |  BHR | 10.68s | 2 | | 6. Ousmane Diarra |  MLI | 10.69s | 8 | | 7. Jerome Jeremiah |  VAN | 10.82s | 6 | | 8. Fred Rocio |  GUM | 12.27s | 7 |
|
| Heat 7 wind +0.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Linford Christie | GBR | 10.39s | 7 | | 2. Satoru Inoue | JPN | 10.47s | 5 | | 3. Charles-Louis Seck | SEN | 10.60s | 4 | | 4. Eric Haynes |  STK | 10.82s | 8 | | 5. Franck Zio |  BKF | 10.93s | 1 | | 6. Erwin Heru |  INA | 11.14s | 3 | | 7. Tryson Duburiya |  NAU | 12.04s | 6 | | -. Joseph Gikonyo | KEN | DNS | 2 |
|
|
| Heat 8 wind +1.4m/s | time | L | | 1. Bruny Surin | CAN | 10.28s | 5 | | 2. Andreas Berger | AUT | 10.40s | 2 | | 3. Carlos Moreno | CHI | 10.44s | 3 | | 4. Horace Dove-Edwin |  SLE | 10.48s | 1 | | 5. Gilles Queneherve | FRA | 10.59s | 6 | | 6. Fortune Ogouchi |  BEN | 10.92s | 4 | | 7. Christian Mandengue |  CMR | 10.98s | 7 | | 8. Golam Ambia |  BAN | 11.09s | 8 |
|
| Heat 9 wind +0.2m/s | time | L | | 1. Carl Lewis | USA | 10.12s | 7 | | 2. Ezio Madonia | ITA | 10.43s | 2 | | 3. Tetsuya Yamashita | JPN | 10.55s | 4 | | 4. Yiannis Zisimides |  CYP | 10.68s | 3 | | 5. Rodney Cox |  TKS | 11.02s | 6 | | 6. Jerome Romain |  DMN | 11.09s | 1 | | -. Cengiz Kavaklioglu |  TUR | DNS | 5 |
|
|
| Heat 10 wind +1.4m/s | time | L | | 1. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | 10.20s | 5 | | 2. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 10.25s | 4 | | 3. Vitaliy Savin | URS | 10.36s | 7 | | 4. Fernando Botasso | BRA | 10.44s | 2 | | 5. Junior Cornette |  GUY | 10.63s | 8 | | 6. Tzong-Tze Hsieh |  TPE | 10.79s | 6 | | 7. John Hou |  PNG | 11.04s | 3 | | -. Adam Hassam Sakkak |  SUD | DNS | 1 |
|
| 