Sprint stars Bolt, Gay set for 3 showdowns at elite Diamond League meets in 2010

Bolt, Gay set for 3 showdowns in Diamond League

MONACO — Sprint stars Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States will race each other at least three times at elite Diamond League meets next year.

Track and field’s governing body said on Saturday that the two fastest men in history are contracted to compete in seven of the 14 cities in Asia, Europe and the United States featured in the inaugural global series.

The rivals must decide which meets will host their showdowns, over 100 or 200 meters.

“The only thing I know is I will be racing Bolt at least three times or more,” Gay said before a Diamond League launch ceremony on Saturday.

The new circuit will be the top tier of track and field in 2010 with no Olympics or World Championships on the schedule.

Bolt, the 100 and 200 world record holder and a three-time Olympic champion, took Gay’s 100 world title in a record 9.58 seconds at Berlin in August, leaving the 27-year-old American with silver despite a lifetime best of 9.71.

Gay then ran 9.69 — equaling the 23-year-old Jamaican’s previous world mark set in the Beijing Olympic final — at Shanghai in September.

One of Bolt, Gay and Asafa Powell, the third fastest man in history, will be compete at each meet on the circuit.

Other elite athletes committed to seven Diamond League appearances are distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, pole vaulters Yelena Isinbayeva and Steve Hooker, 400 runner Sanya Richards, high jumper Blanka Vlasic and javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen.

The Diamond League offers $6.63 million in total prize money across 32 track and field disciplines, each staged seven times over the series. A four-carat diamond will be presented to the season-ending points leader in each event.

The series opens at Doha, Qatar, in May, and stops at Shanghai, New York City and several European capital cities before concluding with two finals of 16 events each at Zurich and Brussels in August.

The new series replaces the six-city Golden League that offered athletes a share of a $1 million jackpot for six victories. However, the series never left Europe and could not find room for some less glamorous events.

Other cities on the Diamond League circuit include Oslo; Rome; Eugene, Ore.; Lausanne, Switzerland; Gateshead, Britain; Paris; Monaco; Stockholm; and London.