Tyson Gay threw down the gauntlet to 100 metres rival Usain Bolt when he ran a wind-assisted 9.75 seconds on Thursday.
World record holder and Olympic champion Bolt, from Jamaica, eclipsed the world 100m and 200m champion Gay at the Beijing Games last summer as the American struggled with a hamstring injury sustained at the US Olympic trials.
Gay returned to the Hayward Field track at the USA Track & Field National Championships in Eugene, Oregon to begin his bid to retain his world titles in Berlin this August and he ran 9.75sec - the fastest time in the world this year under any conditions - to win his first-round heat from Monzavous Edwards in 9.98, bettering Bolt's similarly wind-aided 9.77 in Ostrava last weekend.
Gay, 26, had stated before the nationals, which are doubling as the US world championship trials, that he would only run one race at the meet to gauge his form over 100m. By doing so he also fulfilled his obligation to run one race at his national championships in order to become eligible for a bye for world champions to defend their titles in Berlin.
Gay was the clear fastest qualifier for Friday's semi-finals, with Olympic team-mate Darvis 'Doc' Patton next quickest in 9.92 and Michael Rodgers third with the same time but a stronger tailwind.
Olympic 100m bronze medalist Walter Dix was ninth fastest in 10.07 with all times over the IAAF legal limit of 2.0 metres per second.
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