Jamaica showdown looms for Bolt, Powell

The two fastest 100 metres sprinters of all time could race in Jamaica later this month.

- Usain Bolts to 100m record | Eyes Olympic gold

New 100 metres world record holder Usain Bolt will run both the 100 and 200 at the June 27-29 Jamaican Olympic trials in Kingston, his coach said on Sunday.

Among his rivals in the 100 is scheduled to be compatriot Asafa Powell, the world record holder until Bolt clocked 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on Saturday.

The meeting could be the year's most anticipated 100 metres before the Beijing Olympics in August, although Powell and American world champion Tyson Gay are also due to race in July in London.

Powell and Bolt have run the seven fastest times ever recognised in the event.

Powell has recorded five of them, including the former world record of 9.74 seconds, and the 21-year-old Bolt two but they have never raced over 100 metres.

The lanky Bolt has run times of 9.76, 9.92 and 9.72 seconds within the last month.

"I'll be doubling now (in the Olympics), definitely," Bolt told Reuters in New York after setting the world record.

But his coach Glen Mills said nothing had been finalised.

"It is not really his decision to make," the veteran coach told Reuters via telephone from Kingston. "If he wants to, maybe that's his way of telling me."

Mills, who for years had tried to push Bolt towards the 400 metres as his second event, acknowledged that the sprinter would run both the 100 and 200 metres at the Jamaican trials.

"He is going to double in the trials because if he doesn't, he would be forcing himself to make a decision this month about the Olympics," Mills said.

A 200 metres race in Ostrava, Czech Republic on June 12 will be Bolt's only run over the longer distance before the trials, his agent Ricky Simms said.