KINGSTON (Jamaica), May 2: Double world sprint champion Tyson Gay opens his 200 metres season on Saturday hoping for a solid time in the Jamaica International Invitational.

“I am trying to put a lot on the minds of my competitors,” Gay said after arriving on Thursday. “The Beijing Olympics will be my first and I am just trying to go out there and do what I have to do.”

American Gay plans to run both the 100 and 200 metres and the 4x100 metres relay in Beijing.

World record holder Asafa Powell, Gay’s chief rival in the 100 metres, is injured and will not be competing until the end of June.

The Jamaica meeting also includes Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica and Beijing 400 metres favourite Sanya Richards.

The men’s 100 metres race features two world 200 metres medallists, Usain Bolt of Jamaica who won silver and Wallace Spearmon Jr of the US who took bronze.

Richards, who left Jamaica for the US at age 12, is ready to put a disappointing 2007 season behind her.

“I was ill last year and missed a lot of training, but my training has been really consistent for the past four or five months and so I feel like I am ready to run really fast,” she said.—Reuters