Usain Bolt fired out a broadside at potential rivals at August's World Athletics Championships, saying that despite indifferent early season form his "eyes were on the prize".
The Jamaican has six Olympic gold medals to his name, and is reigning double world 200m champion and also world record holder in both the 100m and 200m.
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But he sustained a blip in his exemplary career when he suffered a surprise defeat to American 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin over 100m at the Rome leg of the 14-meet Diamond League circuit last week.
Bolt was quick to laugh off critics, saying that although a hamstring teak had set him back somewhat, he was not concerned about going to the worlds having suffered a loss, only his fourth in competition since 2008.
“This season started off pretty good, but I picked up a slight hamstring problem which was a slight setback for me,” he said ahead of Oslo’s Bislett Games today.
“It’s all about training to determine if I can get back to where I need to be to try to get back breaking records.”u00a0Bolt added: “It’s too early in the season to say what will be needed.
Tyson (Gay)’s already there, Gatlin’s running good but got beat by (Christophe) Lemaitre, and (Yohan) Blake’s coming back from injury. “We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.”
“I’ve trained very well. My legs felt great so I’m really happy,” he said. “All I need right now is some races under my belt before the national trials.”u00a0