Athletics-Gatlin wins 200 metres showdown with Merritt

By Gene Cherry EUGENE, Oregon, July 9 (Reuters) - Justin Gatlin won a 200 metres showdown with LaShawn Merritt and 41-year-old Bernard Lagat made his fifth Olympic team by winning the 5,000m at the U.S. athletics trials on Saturday. World record holder Aries Merritt narrowly missed the men's 110m hurdles team, while Allyson Felix kept her hopes of a rare 200-400 Olympic double alive by advancing through the women's 200m semi-finals. World silver medallist Gatlin, remembering a narrow loss to Usain Bolt in last year's world championships 100m final, held off the charging LaShawn Merritt to win the 200 final in 19.75 seconds. Merritt clocked 19.79 seconds as both sprinters qualified for Rio in a second event. Merritt earlier won the 400 and Gatlin the 100. Ameer Webb rounded out the 200m team with an even 20 second run. Favourite David Oliver did not start the final after injuring his hamstring in the semi-finals. Kenya-born Lagat pulled to the front on the final straight to claim the 5,000 in 13 minutes and 35.50 seconds. Reigning Olympic hurdles champion Aries Merritt, who underwent a kidney transplant in September, missed the Rio team by a hundredth of a second as he placed fourth in the final. Only the top three finishers qualify for the Olympics in the cutthroat U.S. trials. "I thought I had finished second or third," said the 30-year-old, who was leading with two hurdles to go. He said he planned to protest the finish. Home-town collegian Devon Allen surprisingly won the race in 13.03 with Ronnie Ash and Jeff Porter finishing second and third, both in 13.21. Felix, not happy with her curve running, clocked the third best 200m semi-final time of 22.57 seconds to advance to Sunday's final. Tori Bowie was fastest at 22.27 seconds. Olympic silver medallist Will Claye overtook London triple jump gold medallist Christian Taylor with a big fifth-place jump of 17.65 metres as both advanced to Rio. Taylor leaped 17.39. (Editing by Ian Ransom)