Bolt predicts season's best

BRUSSELS (AP):

Usain Bolt expects to beat the year's fastest time for the 100 metres when he faces Jamaican rival Asafa Powell in Paris on Friday.

Bolt clocked 9.82 seconds in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 8, matching Powell's time in Rome last month.

The two will race against each other for the first time this season in a highly anticipated showdown at the Diamond League meet at the Stade de France.

"I definitely think the time will be even faster," Bolt said yesterday in Brussels, where he made a coaching appearance for several hundred promising young Belgian runners.

Bolt is the Olympic and world champion and world record-holder in the 100 and 200.

Not afraid

Powell was the last man to beat him in the 100, in Stockholm in 2008.

"I am not afraid to be beaten by anyone," Bolt said. "I don't want to lose. But if I do, I'll just go back to the drawing board and work hard and stay focused. I take him (Powell) seriously."

Bolt returned to competition in Lausanne following an Achilles' tendon injury which he said "heals very slowly".

The Paris race will be his third 100 competition of the season. He clocked 9.86 seconds in Daegu, South Korea, in May.

Bolt set a Stade de France record last year, clocking 9.79 seconds in cool weather and a slight, but steady rain. His world record, set at the Berlin World Championships last year, is 9.58 seconds.

"My aim in life is to be a legend," Bolt said. "I don't see myself as a legend now. If I did, I would have nothing to look forward to."