Video: Jamaica team train in Moscow

With the 2013 World Championship in Athletics due to get underway in Moscow on Saturday (10th August) the biggest name in the sport – Usain Bolt – was in training on Thursday (8th August).

With the 2013 World Championship in Athletics due to get underway in Moscow on Saturday the biggest name in the sport – Usain Bolt – was in training on Thursday.

Double Olympic Champion over three disciplines, Bolt knows what it takes to deliver on the world stage.

But by his own high standards, this season has been below his best.

Despite that, he seems to be coming into form at the right time having clocked his fastest race of the season at the Diamond League meeting in London last month when he recovered from a slow start to record 9.85 seconds over 100 metres.

Bolt may have dominated sprinting for five years, but he isn’t the reigning world champion over 100 metres.

The 26-year-old won the title in Berlin in 2009, but was disqualified in Daegu in 2011 for a false start, leaving compatriot Yohan Blake to take gold.

Blake will not get an opportunity to defend his 100m title having withdrawn from the championships with a hamstring injury.

Also missing will be former world champion Tyson Gay and Jamaica’s ex-100m world record holder Asafa Powell, who both failed drug tests in July and have opted to miss the event in the Russian capital.

This leaves Bolt as the overwhelming favourite to take the title – perhaps with a world record should conditions permit it – with Olympic bronze medallist Justin Gatlin deemed the man most likely to cause an upset.

Bolt will also race the 200 metres where another Jamaican, Warren Weir, could put him under pressure.

He took the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics – behind Bolt and Blake – producing a personal best in the final.

The World Championships begin on 10 August, with the 100m final on 11 August and the 200m final taking place on 17 August.

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Edited by Staff Editor