Bolt will bow out on a high, says Bailey

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Bengaluru, July 31:Former 100M world record holder Donovan Bailey has backed Usain Bolt to bow out in triumph at the London World Championships despite his slow build-up to the event.

Bolt logged his season best of 9.95sec recently in Monaco, a time beaten by a raft of sprinters this year.

He is currently ranked joint seventh with arch rival Justin Gatlin on the year's top timesheet which is headed by USA's Christian Coleman, who ran 9.82 seconds in Eugene, Oregon last month.

Bolt's Jamaican training partner Yohan Blake is second on the list with 9.90, ahead of South African Akani Simbine (9.92) and Americans Cameron Burrell and Christopher Belcher.

But the 30-year-old Jamaican is still raging favourite to win his fourth 100M world title, and with good reason, according to former world and Olympic champion Bailey.
"Anyone that bets against Bolt at a major championship isn't smart," the Jamaica-born Canadian told Agencies.

"Those athletes have to have a mistake-free race to make the 100M final interesting," he said of Bolt's rivals.