Justin Gatlin takes gold in the men's 100m final (© Getty Images)
New York, USAJustin Gatlin, the reigning Olympic and World champion at 100m, who has already announced three of his season dates yesterday, has also confirmed he will the 2006 Reebok Grand Prix. It will be the first time Gatlin, a Brooklyn native, has ever run outdoors in New York City.
“The first time I was in Icahn Stadium, I knew you could run sub-10 on that track,” said Gatlin in a media teleconference, referring to his appearance at the grand opening of the stadium last spring. “It’s New York, hey. It’s where I was born, where I was raised. There’s not a lot of tracks I can call home, that have a home feel about them, and I think this can be one of those places for me.”
Gatlin also said that he hopes to run 9.75 sometime this season. The world record, held by Asafa Powell of Jamaica, is 9.77. “If Asafa can do it, I can do it,” he said.
As a triple medallist at the 2004 Olympics (100m gold, 4x100m silver, 200m bronze) and 2005 World champion at both 100m and 200m, Gatlin is the most dominant sprinter in the world.
His winning time in Athens of 9.85 led the deepest 100m race in Olympic history, with five men breaking the 10-second barrier, and was the second fastest Olympic winning time in history.
Last year, he solidified his position on the top of the sprint world by becoming just the second man ever to win both the 100m and 200m at the same World Championships, and his margin of victory in the 100 was the biggest ever at the event.
Barbara Huebner for the IAAF