Yohan ‘The Beast’ Blake hopes he can bolt past competitors at the BT Great City Games held in Manchester next month.
The Olympic silver medallist over 100 and 200 metres will compete in the 150-metre sprint at the annual city games which takes places on May 17.
Blake, the 100 metre world champion in 2011, will be aiming to smash training partner Usain Bolt’s world best time for the rarely-run distance, which is 14.35 seconds.
A Manchester running society told MM: “Having big names like Blake coming to Manchester is great for athletics across the city as people will go to watch and will get inspired.
“We have good facilities in Manchester but we are constantly striving to get more people involved with track and field events.
“Opportunities to have world-class athletes like this in your local city is brilliant and I hope we can make the most of it and inspire the next generation.”
With free entry guaranteed a crowd of 20,000 people are expected to gather on Deansgate to witness some of the world’s greatest athletes compete on a purpose-built, IAAF-certified track.
Alongside the state-of-the-art track, field events will take place on the iconic Albert Square in front of Manchester Town Hall.
Also attending the event will be British London 2012 Olympic long-jump champion Greg Rutherford.
It will be Blake’s first appearance in Britain since London 2012, where he was also part of the all-conquering Jamaican 4×100 relay team which took gold in style.
The Jamaican, who has a best of 9.69 seconds for 100metres, missed last summer’s World Championships in Moscow with a hamstring injury.
Blake is a crowd favourite in this country and was even given the honour of ringing the bell at Lord’s Cricket Ground, to signify the start of a test match between England and South Africa. The Jamaican was the first non-professional cricketer to do this.
Spectators will be able to take part in a weekend of sporting activity culminating in the Bupa Great Manchester Run, Europe’s biggest 10K, on Sunday May 18.
Main image courtesy of IAAF Magazine via YouTube, with thanks.
