Track: Usain Bolt at �85 percent� in run-up to worlds
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
LONDON � Usain Bolt still has more to give this year going into his final meet before next month�s world championships.
�Yes, I�m not in the best shape of my life but I�m still in good shape,� Bolt said ahead of the two-day London Grand Prix. �I think I�m probably close, probably 85 percent.�
Bolt runs in the 100 meters Friday, one week after he ran a season-best 9.79 seconds in poor weather in Paris � just .10 off the world record he set, slowing near the finish of the Olympic final last August.
After having surgery on his left foot following a car accident in April, Bolt believes the interruption to his training means he won�t be at his best until the August 15-23 worlds in Berlin.
Still, he would not rule out a record time at the Crystal Palace track Friday.
�You never know for me what�s possible if the weather is good � I doubt it will be. I�m bringing the rain wherever I go,� he said. �For me, it�s not all about time, it�s all about performance. It�s just to see where I�m at and what I need to do.�
Bolt�s biggest challenge Friday should come from Asafa Powell, a teammate on Jamaica�s world-record 400-meter relay team in Beijing.
Powell was the last man to beat Bolt, winning in Stockholm exactly a year ago, and has a best of 9.72 set last September.
�He�s a great athlete and a great performer,� Bolt said of Powell. �Our (personal best times) are not very far apart.�
Track fans must wait until Berlin for a showdown over 100 between Bolt and Tyson Gay, the current world champion and fastest man in the world this year.
�I have never backed down from any challenge out in front of me,� Bolt said. �Rivalry is always good. It excites me in a way to know that there�s somebody out there that could beat me.�
Gay�s 9.77 in Rome earlier this month matched his own United States record, while the 26-year-old from Kentucky posted a 19.58 over 200 in New York in May � one-hundredth faster than Bolt over the distance this year.
Gay will run the 200 at the London GP on Saturday, before the two step on the same track for a 400 relay to close the meet.
Bolt said he would analyze his two 100 runs in London to �get it right� for the worlds, but would concentrate more on his 200 before Berlin.
�I didn�t do so much work after my accident in Jamaica,� he said, though the damage was done by stepping on thorns walking away from his wrecked BMW. �I had to do mostly 80 meters, 110s. Leaning into the corner was really hard for me. I didn�t do anything like curves. I have got a lot of catching up to do.�