Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after the semifinal of Men's 100 Meter Race of the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships Moscow 2013 in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 11, 2013.

World record holder Usain Bolt stormed to the men's 100 world title amid a heavy rain to light up the Luzhniki Stadium while Russia's young walker Alexandr Ivanov claimed the first gold medal for the hosts in the second of 2013 IAAF World Championships here on Sunday.

Bolt started with a mediocre reaction time of 0.163 seconds and pulled clear to shrug off a strong charge from Justin Gatlin of United States, blazing through the finish line in 9.77. It was personal season best for the Jamaican, who was disqualified for fault start in the 100m final in Daegu worlds two years ago. The winning mark fell far behind his world record of 9.58, but was good enough for Bolt as well as his country which has been facing a credit crisis following a series of doping scandals before the worlds.

"For me today, it was just fun. It was not a revenge for Daegu, I just came here to win this title," said the 26-year-old Jamaican. "I wanted to do a better time but was not able to because of the weather - this is just one of those days. Not 'singing in the rain ', but 'running in the rain' tonight! My race was not perfect and the start was not perfect neither."

"I am feeling good, just a little bit tired. I need some rest. I continue to work on my aim to become a legend by collecting gold medals and athlete of the year titles; and the 200m and the 4x1 is yet to come," said an ambitious and confident Bolt.

Gatlin also clocked a season best of 9.85 to finished second, while Nesta Carter, also from Jamaica, finished third in 9.95.

"The rain actually got me excited. We saw the lightning on the horizon when we were at the warm-up track and started thinking they would postpone the race. But they wanted an epic race in rain and they got it!" said Gatlin.