World Athletics Championships: Bolt pulls up injured in final race of his career

Great Britain claimed a stunning 4x100m relay gold at the World Championships as Usain Bolt pulled up injured in the final race of his career.

Bolt had missed out on his bid to retain his 100m title earlier in the week, losing out to Gatlin and silver medallist Christian Coleman.

Bolt pulled up with a leg cramp on the anchor leg of the world 4x100m relay.

The result means Bolt, 100 and 200m world record holder, finishes his career with 14 world career medals, one behind American Allyson Felix, to go with eight Olympic golds.

Bolt received the baton with Jamaica in third, but halfway down the finishing straight the towering sprinter pulled up clutching his left thigh, eventually doing a forward somersault to the ground, to gasps from the 60,000 sell out London Stadium.

Jamaican team doctor Dr Kevin Jones said Bolt had suffered from "cramp in his left hamstring".

"But a lot of pain is from disappointment from losing the race," Jones said.

Hopes were high for Bolt's final competitive race, with Jamaica also boasting McLeod, Forte and 2011 world champion Yohan Blake in their line-up.

Jamaica were afforded a rousing welcome from the crowd, a relaxed-looking Bolt applauding the stands, with pictures of him constantly shown on the stadium's big screens.

Usain Bolt's bid to bring the curtain down on his glittering career with a 15th world gold medal remained on track as Jamaica qualified for the final of the 4x100m relay.

Bolt took the unusual step of racing the relay heats, something usually reserved for the more unheralded members of the squad.

Bolt said his emotions were still in check at the thought of bowing out of track and field.

"For me it's hard to be sad because the energy I'm getting from the crowd is brilliant, I'm just happy.

"There are no words to describe how I am feeling."

Jamaica's Usain Bolt gestures after taking the third place in the men's 100m athletics event at the 2017 IAAF World Championships.