It is being billed as the 100m ‘race of the century’ as three heavy weights look set to tussle for the gold medal. Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, and American Tyson Gay will battle it out for the top spot on the podium. It is almost being taken for granted that all three will finish on the podium, with only the matter of who wins the gold to be decided. Usain Bolt, a relative newcomer to the event, has raised the benchmark following his dramatic world-record-breaking run in New York. In only his fourth 100m run at world competition standard, Bolt clocked 9.72 seconds to throw the competition wide open. Since then Asafa Powell has struck back beating Bolt at the London Grand Prix in June. Tyson Gay confirmed his tag as joint favourite by running the fastest ever recorded 100m race, clocking 9.68 seconds. However, it was not recorded as a world record because the high winds measured over the legal wind allowance, but it certainly sent out a message that Gay will be a genuine contender for gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. If all three run to their potential then the men’s 100m final could prove to be the most enthralling competition of the Beijing Olympics. 

American sprinter Tori Edwards is currently the fastest woman following her impressive run of 10.78 seconds in June. Beijing will be her second Olympics but she may struggle to compete with Jamaican Veronica Campbell and fellow American Lauryn Williams. Campbell won three medals in the Athens Olympics including a bronze in the 100m, and followed this up with gold at the 2007 World Championships. The race finish of the final at the World Championships was so close that a video replay was needed to determine the victor, with Campbell judged to have narrowly won.