By Gary Smith, World-Track

BERLIN – Reigning World short sprint double champion Tyson Gay believes Usain Bolt is exactly the kind of individual track and field has been missing for many years.

The American said Bolt, the Olympic champion and world record holder in both the 100 and 200 metres, brings the sort of excitement and sportsmanship to the sport that is impossible to make it boring.

"I feel really good the way he is transcending the sport," Gay said of his Jamaican sprint counterpart. "He is making the sport less boring because he is so exciting.

"When you have someone who can dance, entertain and run fast, it is very good," he added.

The soft-spoken, well laid-back Gay, however, made clear his intentions to defend his titles at the World Championships in Berlin next month, two crowns the sport’s entertainer is gunning to snatch away from the American.

The 26-year-old acknowledged that Bolt will start as the favourite, but the world should prepare itself for a shock.

"I would call it ‘Tyson Gay shocks the world’," he told reporters when asked to give a headline for his 100m sprint showdown with Bolt.

"You have three guys who want to win. It will be the most exciting race ever," he said, referring to Jamaicans Bolt and Asafa Powell and himself.

Gay, the 2007 triple world champion has the two fastest times over the sprints this year, at 9.77 seconds for the 100m and 19.58 seconds for the 200m, but he plans to improve those soon.

"My main goal is to run faster than those times," he said. "The best is yet to come."

Powell and Gay are set for a showdown in Stockholm on Friday and despite a nagging groin injury, the latter said he is ready to run as he is feeling good and the injury should not be a bother.

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