Athletics: Kim Collins expects sprint history

Former world champion Kim Collins believes this year could see the first race in history with eight men running 100 metres under ten seconds.

Eight different men have broken the ten-second barrier already this season, with three of them doing so in the same race in Doha earlier this month.

The 2008 Olympic final saw six men run under ten seconds, including Usain Bolt setting a then-world record of 9.69secs, while the same feat was achieved in the 1991 World Championship final and at the 2011 Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.

Although the veteran Collins concedes he is not capable of keeping pace with the likes of Bolt, if the Jamaican gets near his current world record of 9.58s, the 36-year-old feels the rising standards in an Olympic year mean history could soon be made.

“I think this is going to be the year where we see eight men under ten seconds in the same race, so keep watching,” said Collins, who won the world 100m title for St Kitts and Nevis in Paris in 2003.

“For me it’s no surprise that five guys have already run under 9.9s this year. It’s an Olympic year and everyone wants to be in the best shape possible.”

Collins finished second to Bolt in Ostrava, Czech Republic, last Friday and will take on the triple Olympic champion again in Rome’s Diamond League meeting tonight, with former world record holder Asafa Powell also in the field.

Powell said: “I’m not here to compete against Bolt. I’m here to run very fast. The finish line is my target, not Bolt or anyone else.”

And asked how he would beat Bolt, Powell added: “It’s simple. If you want to beat Bolt and he runs 9.79, you run 9.78. If he runs ten seconds flat, you run 9.9. That’s it.”

“At this meet I don’t know what I’ll do. Unlike some people who can say they’re going to break records or run 9.7, I’m a human being and I have to wait and see what my body brings.”

At last year’s Golden Gala, Bolt narrowly beat Powell, clocking 9.91 after a sluggish start, with Powell at 9.93 and France’s European champion Christophe Lemaitre third in 10.00.

Lemaitre is also back in Rome this week. “I learned last year to look at what I can improve during these races,” he said yesterday.

“I want to see where I’m at tomorrow. I’ve had some poor stretches but I’m confident I can do well.”

Meanwhile, Oscar Pistorius will run at the African Championships in late June in what could be the double-amputee sprinter’s last chance to qualify for the London Olympics.

Pistorius was yesterday named alongside former women’s 800m world champion Caster Semenya in South Africa’s team for the 27 June-1 July championships in Porto Novo, Benin.

South Africa’s qualifying window closes at the end of June and Pistorius still needs one more time of 45.30 seconds or better at an international meet to be eligible for a place on the Olympic team in the 400m.

Pistorius had a disappointing 47.66 to finish last at the Golden Spike in Ostrava last week in his first overseas race this season. He ran 46.35 at a meet in the Netherlands on Sunday.