Usain Bolt Faces Challenge From Tyson Gay But Won’t Make It Personal

Usain Bolt, the 26-year-old Olympics champion from Jamaica who is widely regarded as the world’s fastest man, can expect a renewed challenge from Tyson Gay. The 30-year-old American from Kentucky is the fastest American and the second-fastest athlete of all time from anywhere.

Dogged by injuries for many years, Tyson Gay is now coming into his own as the current world’s fastest man. At the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Thursday, Gay finished the 100 meters spring in 9.79 seconds to win with his second-fastest time for the event this year.

As a result of the win, the excitement continues to mount for the upcoming August world championship meet in Moscow, where Usain Bolt plans to regain his world title.

Gay’s personal best for the 100 meter event is 9.69 seconds. Usain’s Bolt’s daunting best is 9.58 seconds.

But even Usain Bolt can be beaten. In early June, Justin Gatlin edged out Bolt by one-hundred of a second to win the 100 meters event at the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy.

A report in The Guardian said that Tyson Gay had thrown down the gauntlet to Usain Bolt, suggesting that his years-long struggles with injuries were now in his past. Gay said of his win Thursday:

“It felt good. It’s all about consistency and staying healthy because that’s the key to success at this level. Sometimes you wish you could take advantage of the wind a little more but at the same time I felt good.”

Despite some probing questions from the media, Usain Bolt won’t take the bait and turn the upcoming Moscow championship race into a personal feud against Gay. In a Reuters report, the man who once raced a cheetah said:

“Everybody next to me in the finals [is challenging me]. You’ll have the top eight guys there.”

Usain Bolt will be appearing in the 200 meters Diamond League event on Saturday.

[Usain Bolt celebrates a win photo by Ververidis Vasilis / Shutterstock.com]