African sprinters clocked among the fastest times in the first rounds of the men's 100m races in Sydney on Friday.

Antoine Boussombo of Gabon recorded the second fastest time of 10.13 seconds, and Leo Myles-Mills of Ghana notched 10.15 seconds. Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago had recorded 10.04 seconds.

Africans who qualified after the second round of the heats included Myles-Mills, who came second in his heat to the fastest 100m sprinter on earth, Maurice Greene. In that round, the Ghanaian came in at 10.23 seconds, 0.13 seconds behind the American. Sunday Emmanuel of Nigeria was third in the same heat, at 10.36 seconds.

Other Africans who qualified in round 2 were: Aziz Zakari of Ghana (10.22sec) and Aliu Deji of Nigeria (10.29sec). Zakari was one of the runners who beat defending Olympic champion, Donovan Bailey of Canada, whose failure to qualify provided the biggest upset of the day at the Olympics. Zakari came third in the heat in which Bailey made only eighth place. Boussombo did not make it through round 2.