Bailey faces serious test

LAUSANNE, JULY 1:Olympic 100 metre champion Donovan Bailey faces a serious test of his form tomorrow after the hype and huge pay packets of...

LAUSANNE, JULY 1:Olympic 100 metre champion Donovan Bailey faces a serious test of his form tomorrow after the hype and huge pay packets of this season8217;s showdowns with Michael Johnson and Linford Christie.

The Canadian will find out if he has the sharpness to defend his title at next month8217;s World Championships in Athens when he takes on a high-class field over 100 metres at the Lausanne Grand Prix meeting. The fastest men in the world are expected to contest the final in the Swiss lakeside town, almost all of them used to going under 10 seconds.

If the conditions are favourable for sprinting, Bailey8217;s world record of 9.84 seconds, set at last year8217;s Atlanta Olympics, could be in danger.His opponents are expected to include Namibia8217;s Frankie Fredericks, the Olympic silver medallist, bronze medallist Ato Boldon of Trinidad, and Britain8217;s former World and Olympic champion Linford Christie.

The track is fast at the Athletissima meeting. American Leroy Burrell, who is also in the field, ran the former world record of 9.85 in the stadium in 1994. Last season Fredericks went within 0.01 of a second of that mark when he beat Bailey and Christie in a similar high-class clash in Lausanne.Bailey has been cashing in on his Atlanta success in the first stage of the season, taking on American 200 and 400 Olympic champion Johnson in a 1.5 million showdown over the rarely-run 150 metres in Toronto. On Sunday, he made another 82,500 in just over 15 seconds when he beat Christie in a winner-takes-all 150 metres duel in Sheffield.

Bailey looked very sharp despite the cold and windy conditions in the northern English city. Afterwards he said: 8220;It8217;s not the money but the performance that counted and I was delighted with that.8221;

The meeting is also crucial for France8217;s 200 and 400 Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec who has been struggling with her form. Perec, scheduled to run the 200 metres, has said she would pull out of the World Championships if she did not enjoy a better race in Lausanne.