Six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt and his young Jamaican compatriot Yohan Blake will not race each other again this season, Blake's manager, Cubee Seegobin, indicated yesterday
Bolt, who defended his 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in London, is due to contest the 200m in tonight’s Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, while Blake, who won silver in both individual sprints, will run in the 100m.
Usain Bolt & Yohan Blake
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The training partners will race over those same distances in the next meeting in Zurich on August 30, before swapping for the Brussels event on September 7.
Asked about the possibilities for a rematch between the pair and his desire to test himself against his elder rival, Blake said: “Yes, I always love running against him. But ask my manager, who really knows the business.”
Seegobin said: “Coach (Glenn) Mills gives Yohan a programme and it’s tailored according to people’s wishes. It’s something for the managers, the meeting director and sponsors. I don’t think of it in terms of confrontation but in terms of what the organiser offers.”
Blake said: “In 2013, I will have titles to defend (including the 100m) at the World Championships (in Moscow).”
Bolt insisted that he is not thinking about a new 200m world record, which he currently holds, having stormed to 19.19sec in Berlin in 2009, when he races tonight.
“Sure, I have the potential on this track if I am in form and if the conditions are right. But my main objective is to give this enthusiastic crowd a show.”
Gatlin pulls out of Lausanne
US sprint star and Olympic 100m bronze medallist Justin Gatlin yesterday pulled out of tonight’s Diamond League meeting here for health reasons.
The 2004 Olympic champion had missed Monday's meeting at Linz after suffering from a stomach upset and a fever which saw him hospitalised in Austria. He will return to USA for testing.
The 30-year-old, who served a doping ban between 2006 and 2010, also won silver in the 4x100m at the London Games.
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