Usain Bolt's epic 100m comeback after awful start at 2015 World Championships

Usain Bolt had the weight of the world on his shoulders at the 2015 IAAF World Championships.

The Olympic legend had practically been indomitable from the moment he first set the 100-metre world record in 2008, but there was a major threat for him to contend with seven years later in Beijing.

Just as Yohan Blake had made a surge ahead of the 2012 Olympics, even defeating Bolt in both the 100 and 200 metres at the Jamaican trials, none other than Justin Gatlin was making a charge of his own in 2015.

Something of a pantomime villain in athletics due to twice serving a doping ban, the American was in the form of his life ahead of the World Championships in China having opened up his season with a personal best.

The scintillating time of 9.74 seconds that Gatlin – one of few sprinters to ever beat a prime Bolt over 100 metres – posted at a Diamond League meet in Doha really set the stage for a titanic battle at the competition that mattered most.

And when the championships eventually got underway at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, there were worrying indications of the form that Bolt found himself in ahead of an inevitable showdown with Gatlin in the final.

That’s because the legendary Jamaican didn’t enjoy the smooth-sailing journey through the heats and semi-finals that track and field fans had been used to seeing from him.

Whereas in the past Bolt had cruised through the qualifying rounds, slowing down metres upon metres before the line, he really had to put his foot down in order to even reach the final in 2015.

And that’s what brings us to Bolt’s semi-final race that year because it endures as one of the most unique and impressive of his career performances all these years later, producing a truly incredible comeback.

W