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The mouth-watering sprint duel between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay will headline the World Athletics Championships here, offering up what should be one of the most eagerly awaited events ever.

Bolt took the Beijing Olympics by storm last summer, the towering, laid-back Jamaican winning the sprint double gold and also claiming gold as part of Jamaica’s 4×100m relay team, all won – amazingly – in world record times.

He has continued his impressive form into this season, but the year’s best marks in both the 100 and 200m races (9.77 and 19.58 respectively) have been set by archrival Gay, the American who endured a miserable Olympics after rushing back from a debilitating hamstring injury.