Olympic champion Justin Gatlin goes into this weekend’s 100m at the world championships in Helsinki as firm favourite after the withdrawal of injured world record holder Asafa Powell.
The 23-year-old American said he was disappointed by the absence of his Jamaican rival, who has been beset by groin injuries since setting his record 9,77s time in Athens in June.
”I’m upset with it. If I win the first question is going to be ‘what if Asafa Powell was in the race?”’ said Gatlin.
”In the Olympics I proved to myself I was the best at the time and I am still the best right now.
”I wish the best for him and hope he comes back well next season and we have a lot of duels together.”
Gatlin is aiming to become the first man since Maurice Greene, in 1999, to win gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in the same championships.
He also goes into the worlds with a fantastic chance to join an illustrious gang of four sprinters who all held both Olympic gold and the world title simultaneously.
If he were to win the event, he would join the elite quartet of sprinting legends Carl Lewis, Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey and Greene in holding the two titles at the same time.
And Gatlin was in confident mood ahead of the 100m heats on Saturday and semifinals and finals on Sunday.
”I’m feeling very hungry. I want to add an outdoor world championship to my titles,” he said.
”I have a young career. I hope that it keeps continuing to be good for me, successful, and that I put on a great show for the crowd.”
Gatlin added that he was also targeting Powell’s world record.
”World records are meant to be broken. I want to go out there and hopefully have that under my belt as well. 9,75 is my goal and that’s what I’m going for.”
Gatlin’s main rivals for the crown include Portugal’s Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu, who won silver at the Athens Olympics behind the American.
Obikwelu has a season’s best of 10,04sec but has yet to reproduce his form of last summer.
Ghana’s Aziz Zakari has been peforming well in Europe this season, and the veteran, along with France’s Ronald Pognon, finished ahead of Gatlin at the Lausanne meeting last month.
Trinidad and Tobago has a strong duo in the shape of 2003 world silver medallist Darrel Brown and 2005 national champion Marc Burns.
Gatlin will also have compatriots Leonard Scott and Shawn Crawford to worry about.
Scott recorded 9,94s in the London Grand Prix on July 22 behind Gatlin’s 9,89s, while Crawford has forfeited his place in the 200m because of injuries to concentrate on the shorter race.
And one can never rule out Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis, the reigning world champion who has failed to counter his more muscular rivals since winning that title in Paris in 2003.
Collins still entertains hopes of a medal and at the height of optimism the gold.
”I will not give up my world title easily. I don’t lay down for anyone.” – Sapa-AFP