LONDON — Usain Bolt has warned his rivals that he’s “ready to go” as he prepares to bid farewell to the sport at the IAAF World Championships in London, later this week.
Bolt, who won the sprint double two-years-ago, will only run the 100m in London and he’s assuring his fans that he’s in go mode.
The Jamaican sprint sensation will be chasing a fourth IAAF World Championships 100m gold medal, and despite concerns over his fitness heading into the championships, the world record holder is “fully confident” about defending his title on Sunday.
“Come on, you guys know if I show up at a championships I’m fully confident,” Bolt told an audience at The Brewery in east London.
“My coach is confident and I’m ready to go. I’m fully confident, 100-percent.”
Bolt heads into the London championships well below his best form, having broken the 10-seconds barrier only once this year with a season’s best of 9.95 seconds.
Several pundits are shockingly predicting that the likes of world-leader Christian Coleman of USA, Canada’s Andre De Grasse, as well as Jamaica’s 2011 world champion Yohan Blake and American Justin Gatlin, are better placed to relegate Bolt off the podium.
However, the 30-year-old is not troubled by the early predictions and is well motivated to once again prove a point to his collection of doubters.
“I’m the underdog, for some reason,” he said. “That’s what I keep reading. That’s what my team keeps telling me… I’ve got to prove myself once more.”
Bolt usually gets to major championships almost ready and then uses the rounds to race himself into sharpness and the sprint legend is planning to do the same thing again in London.
“My last race was 9.95, which shows I’m going in the right direction,” he noted.
“The two rounds [heats and semis] always helps me. I’m always going forward.
“At championships it’s about who keeps their nerve. I’ve been here before. It’s time to go. It’s ‘go’ time.”