American sprinter, Justin Gatlin, is confident of running in the 9.60 seconds for the 100m this summer.
Gatlin blasted his way to a meeting record en route to winning the men’s 100m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday and 2004 Olympic champion believes things are certainly coming together.
The 33-year-old, who leads the world with a swift 9.74 seconds, wasn’t too far from his world-leading mark after posting 9.75secs to improve Usain Bolt’s previous meeting mark of 9.76secs, set in 2012.
“I have had a couple of very good races, couple of 100s and 200s and I feel confident running times around 9.70s,” the American said after his win.
“This meeting is like the end of the first part of the season and now I am heading home and after the trials i’ll have a month to train and to spend time with my son and my family.”
Gatlin stated that his focus right now is just to stay injury free before the American championships, adding that beating world record holder Bolt isn’t on his agenda at the moment.
“I don’t think of beating Usain Bolt now because the championship is not tomorrow, we still have some time to come.
“I am glad I had a good start and managed to execute the first 60m to be confident with the victory. 9.60 should be possible in the summer.”
The American, who now owns the two fastest times in the world this season, finished ahead of Jimmy Vicaut of France and USA’s Mike Rodgers, who both clocked 9.98secs.
