Thessaloniki (Greece), Sep 13 (DPA) Tyson Gay of the US beat Jamaica's Asafa Powell in the men's 100 metres at the World Athletics Final here.

Gay clocked 9.88 seconds with a late surge to edge Powell (9.90) and Darvis Patton of the US (10.00) here Saturday.

Gay took advantage of the absence of Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt, who was a spectator in the stadium ahead of his participation in the 200m.

Meanwhile double world and Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele outsprinted Bernard Lagat of the United States with victory over 3,000 metres.

The 27-year-old Ethiopian, who won over 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the world championships in Berlin, clocked 8 minutes 3.79 seconds to beat Lagat again into second place.

Lagat, beaten by Bekele in the 5,000m final in Berlin 20 days ago, posted 8:04.00, with Kenya's Sammy Mutahi (8:04.64) third.

'I ran pretty well but it was not an easy race after a very long season. I am very tired and so I will not run tomorrow's 5,000 metres,' said Bekele, who since Berlin had won a share of the Golden League jackpot.

Elsewhere world champion LaShawn Merritt of the United States was supreme in winning the 400m in 44.93 seconds, ahead of Chris Brown of Bahamas (45.49).

Russia's Elena Isinbayeva won the pole vault with a height of 4.80m, well short of her world record mark of 5.