OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Usain Bolt says running a 300-metre race at the Golden Spike on Thursday 27,2010 meet is not a stepping stone to him competing in the 400.
The 100 and 200 Olympic and world champion said the 300 was not new for him because it’s a common part of his training.
Bolt says he knows how to run the race and see how fast he can go in a competition. Bolt said he didn’t plan to compete in the 300 regularly, but added that it was really fun to do different events sometimes.
Jeremy Wariner of the
Bolt will race for the fourth time at the meet, which is part of the new IAAF world challenge series. Last year, he won the 100 in 9.77 seconds.
Michael Johnson holds the world mark of 30.85 seconds in the 300. The IAAF does not recognise it as a world record, as the distance is not used at major events.
Bolt recently said he was avoiding the 400 because of the hard work needed to be the best at that distance.
Bolt said he didn’t plan to attack his records this season, which is without a major world competition, and didn’t expect his main rivals — Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell — to break his record times.
Bolt, Gay and Powell will race each other at the Van Damme Memorial in August in a rematch of last year’s World Championships, where Bolt set a 100 world record of 9.58 seconds.
Bolt opened this season with a year’s best 9.86-second win in the 100 last Wednesday,
If Bolt breaks the 300 record in
Due to the recent deadly clashes in his native country, Bolt said his best performance was not his only concern. Bolt stated that it was really sad for him and it was on his mind because of his family and friends, but he is trying to stay focused right now and he hopes there are no casualties in the near future.