Athletics: No excuses from Bolt as Gay races to Swede success

The American was quicker out of the blocks and pulled clear to claim the first 100m win of his career over the Jamaican world record holder.

Bolt never looked like catching his rival as he crossed the line in second in 9.97secs.

Bolt's last defeat also came in Stockholm two years ago to fellow countryman Asafa Powell, who was forced to pull out of today's Samsung Diamond League meeting with back and hamstring problems.

But the three-time world and Olympic champion was in philosophical mood after the defeat.

"You can get beaten, you have good days and bad days - it was just one of those days for me," Bolt said.

"I need to work on my shape. I got a good start but there was no power there."

The start of the race was delayed slightly when the field was asked twice to stand up from their blocks, but Bolt, who was joking around on the start-line as usual, did not use that as an excuse.

"I was ready, I was focused but those two stand-ups kind of threw me off," he added.

"But I can't blame it on that. Tyson was much better than me, in much better shape than me."

Gay's time was a meeting record and 0.02 behind the world lead, held jointly by Bolt and Powell and he admitted he felt Bolt was not fully fit.

"It feels good," Gay continued. "Deep down inside I felt he wasn't 100 per cent. I'm still waiting for the day when we are both 100 per cent and Asafa is also on the line."