ROME, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Reigning world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt lost by a hundredth of a second to American Justin Gatlin in the 100-meter dash at the Golden Gala meet on Thursday night.
The Jamaican finished 9.95 seconds after Gatlin's 9.94 to suffer his fist significant loss since his false-start disqualification at last World Championships two years ago.
But he did not seem worried after the loss.` "For me it is just going through the season," said Bolt, the world-record holder and six-time Olympic champion. "Put things together for the world championships. The season is still very early."
Gatlin, who has won all five of his 100-meter races this year, said he will try to be better-equipped to challenge Bolt this season.
"He's a legend. He's done great things and I just want to go out there and just fight to the end," he said.
Jimmy Vicaut of France finished third in 10.02.