Canada's Bruny Surin in action at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships (© Getty Images)
Olympic 100 m champion Donovan Bailey says Bruny Surin is the man to watch at this weekend's 100th Canadian athletics championships.
"I personally think Bruny is capable of breaking the world record," said Bailey, whose world 100m mark of 9.84 set at the Atlanta Olympics was wiped off the books last week by American Maurice Greene.
Greene clocked 9.79 in Athens to smash Bailey's previous standard. Third in the Athens race with 9.97, Surin had clocked the fastest time in the world this year with 9.92 until last Wednesday.
Bailey, who has been slowly working his way back after rupturing his right Achilles tendon last September, has failed to post any sub-10 second times this year. His best run was a wind-aided 10.23 in Calgary last Sunday.
"I'm just trying to get back in a comfort zone where I’m consistently running every race," said Bailey, 31, admitting his racing form as "rusty."
The three-day event in Winnipeg serves as the trials for the 1999 Pan American Games, being held here from 23 July to 8 August and the world championships in Spain from 20 to 29 August.
Robert Esmie, 27, who was part of Canada's gold medal 4x100m relay squad in Atlanta, last week cautioned against overlooking Bailey.
"Don't count Donovan out. The man is a winner. He knows what it takes. If the leg is okay, I think mentally he'll be ready. It's all or nothing here at the championships," he said.
Bailey said his recent performances may be deceiving. "The times I've been running this year are not indicative of the shape I'm in," he said Thursday.
As for Surin, his primary goal is to be 100 per cent at the world championships. "My main mistake before was that I was running tight... I learned now to run much more relaxed. It makes such a difference,"
285 Canadian athletes are entered in the athletics championships, which runs Friday through Sunday.
Reuters for the IAAF
