JAPAN: ATHLETICS - American Sprinter Tyson Gay predicts his world record could fall in Osaka

American sprint king Tyson Gay predicted on Thursday the world record could fall in his 100 metres showdown with Jamaican record holder Asafa Powell at the world championships this weekend. "Everything I have been hearing about the track and the surface is that it is supposed to be strictly fast," Gay told a news conference. "So I believe it is very possible for a world record to be broken at this track meet." The meeting with Powell will be their first this year and Gay predicted a time of 9.80 or faster will be needed to win on Sunday. "I feel real good," Gay said. "It (the showdown with Powell) is what everyone has been waiting for." Powell first set his world record of 9.77 seconds in 2005, then tied it twice last year. Suspended American Justin Gatlin also has share of the world record but would lose it if his doping suspension is upheld. Meanwhile, Gay has surged into the 100 metres spotlight with a slightly wind-assisted time of 9.76 seconds -- one hundreds of a second under Powell's record -- and several outstanding times into a head wind. Powell's season has been less sensational with a best of 9.90 seconds. "A lot of people feel he has to run 9.77 this year, and I feel the same way," Gay said. "If he can beat me with the world record time, all well," the 25-year-old American said. "At the same time, he has to run faster than my time this year." Gay won the U.S. championships in 9.84 seconds, then clocked the second-fastest time on record in the 200, 19.62 seconds. He will go for gold in the 200 metres as well and hopes to make it a hat trick in the 4x100 metres. Olympic 200 metre champion Veronica Campbell from Jamaica said she hoped here experience of Athens would help her in Osaka. " Going for the Olympics three years ago I was number one at the 200 metres and I went on to win the 200 metres there," she said " Now I'm number one in the 100 metres so we'll have to see what happens." In the 100 metres she comes up against stiff competition from American champion Lauryn Williams and 100 world champion Torri Edwards of the United States. Campbell also won Olympic bronze in the 2004 Olympics, plus the 4x100 metres relay.

ITN Source | August 24, 2007

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