Aug 14, 2009, 11:06 GMT
Berlin - Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay start their hyped 100 metres duel amid hopes that walker Andre Hoehne can spark the German home team as the 12th world athletics championships get underway on Saturday.
The 20km walk is the first of three medal events, followed by the men's shot put and women's 10,000m, where Meselech Melkamu and Meseret Defar are the top picks after fellow-Ethiopian two-time defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba pulled out through injury.
But Bolt and Gay are expected to dominate the attention from the outset in the blue riband sprint. The heats are set for the morning and the second round in the evening before the culmination on Sunday night with the semis and the final.
The Jamaican star Bolt ran a world record 9.69 seconds en route to three Olympic golds last year in Beijing. Gay is a three-time defending world champion and the American is also fastest man of the season with 9.77 seconds, with Bolt on 9.79 seconds.
Bolt must be rated favourite but Gay is determined to give him a run for his money.
'A 9.6 time is very attainable. It is my goal,' said Gay on Thursday. 'I want to win and at the same time run fast. He has shown what he can do. I haven't shown my full talent yet.'
The confident Bolt said: 'I am in good shape and itching to run ... I set a standard for myself last year, I want to do better this year ... I want to win.'
The 100m heats on the famous blue track in the Olympic Stadium coincide with the first of 47 medal events, the men's 20km walk in downtown Berlin on the Unter den Linden boulevard close to the Brandenburg Gate.
It is the first time in the history of the worlds that the walks, and the marathons, do not start or finish in the stadium as organizers want to bring the competition to the people.
Olympic champion Valeriy Borchin of Russia is the top gold medal pick while Hoehne will relish competition in his home town. He was close to a medal 2007 in Osaka, but was then given wrong directions by race officials and eventually collapsed with a heat stroke.
'I am proud to be competing in my home town and hope to be up front with the help of the crowd,' Hoehne said on Friday.
Dibaba and Defar were to resume their long distance duel in the evening, with Dibaba the two-time reigning 10,000 world champion and coming off a 5,000m and 10,000m double at the Olympics.
With Dibaba now out, Defar faces the biggest threat from the rising Melkamu who ran the second best time ever over the distance with 29:53.80 minutes. Defar became the fifth woman ever to run below 30 minutes with 29:59.20 minutes.
Tomasz Majewski is the men's shot put favourite as the Polish Olympic champion tops the season list with 21.95m. Defending champion Reese Hoffa leads the US charge.
The evening session starts with a brief opening ceremony for the fans and the 2,101 athletes from 202 countries who will be taking part in the biggest sports event of the year until August 23.
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