US sprinter Justin Gatlin yesterday praised the new generation of track competitors, particularly fellow American Trayvon Bromell, as the 34-year-old veteran preps for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Gatlin, who won the 100 metres gold at the 2004 Games in Athens, said he was readying for the US trials with his eye on the 20-year-old who swept to victory in the 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March.
“I believe that Trayvon Bromell is a huge talent, still in the making,” he told a news conference in Shanghai ahead of the Diamond League meeting in China’s commercial hub tomorrow.
“I definitely can’t count him out, but I can’t anybody else out who’s going to line up against us for the Olympic trials. They’ll be ready too.”
Bromell took the bronze medal in the 100m at the World Championships in Beijing last August, when he finished behind Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt and Gatlin—who also lost to Bolt in the 200m.
Asked about his arch-rival, Gatlin said: “Now I’m training to be a better athlete, make sure I stay focused within myself when it comes to competition. I hope that it will turn around for me when it comes to Rio ‘16,” he said.
Gatlin has failed two dope tests during his career but has returned to competition and also represented the United States at the 2012 Olympics. Fresh from a 100 metre victory in Japan earlier this month, Gatlin played down worries over an ankle injury last year and said he was pacing himself early in the season.
“I don’t want to get too burnt out before the season even kicks off to the important part where I need to be at my top form,” he said.  In Shanghai, he will face US compatriot and world finalist Mike Rodgers in the 100m.

Rudisha eyes Shanghai record  
David Rudisha set his sights on breaking the Shanghai Diamond League record as he steps up his campaign for the first back-to-back Olympic 800 metres titles in 52 years.
The world record-holder from Kenya said he was hoping for improvement in his second outing of the season, after clocking one minute 44.78 seconds in Melbourne in March. “I want to keep on improving every time. Of course, my ultimate aim is to be at the top form in August for Rio Olympics,” he told a news conference in Shanghai.
“I’m also looking forward to improve from my last time in Australia,” he said. I’m looking forward for something like 1:43-and-a-half.”
The Shanghai meet record is 1:44.63, set by now-retired Kenyan Wilfred Bungei in 2008. Rudisha, now 27, set an amazing world record of 1:40.91 to win gold in the London Games in 2012.
No man has won consecutive Olympic 800m titles since New Zealand’s Peter Snell in 1960 and 1964, while only two others—Douglas Lowe (1924 and 1928) and Mal Whitfield (1948 and 1952) -- have ever done it.
Tomorrow, Rudisha will face four other Kenyan runners in the 800m race, including world finalists Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich and Alfred Kipketer. The field also includes Erik Sowinski and Nick Symmonds, both of the United States.

Injured Fraser-Pryce pulls out
Meanwhile, World and Olympic 100 metres women’s champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been ruled out of  Shanghai Diamond League because of a minor toe injury. The organisers say Fraser-Pryce is currently getting treatment and expects to be fit in short order.
There have been concerns about Fraser-Pryce’s health in recent days after she failed to show at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 7. she was down to compete in the 200 metres and was to line up against eventual winner Shaunae Miller from The Bahamas.
Two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown will line up against a trio of Americans as she returns to Shanghai just 12 months after being beaten here by Nigeria’s multi-talented Blessing Okagbare over 100m.
The Jamaican, who is aiming to complete an Olympic hat-trick in Rio later this summer, triumphed over 100m at this meeting in 2011 and at 200m in 2012. She currently lies third in the world rankings after running 22.29 at the end of April, but will face formidable opposition this year from US sprinters Candyce Mc.Grone, Jeneba Tarmoh and Tiffany Townsend.
McGrone will be a particular threat as looks to build on her 2015 breakthrough when she was fourth in Beijing, while Tarmoh is a former world junior 100m champion who was sixth over 200m at the World Championships after placing fith at the 2013 Moscow Worlds.