Bolt will not win the 100m?

Daegu - Usain Bolt will not win the 100 metres at the Daegu athletics world championships, according to Maurice Greene, once the world's fastest man.

Greene, never one to shy away from grabbing headlines, predicted on Saturday that Bolt's young training mate Yohan Blake would end the world record holder's reign as world champion.

While injured American record holder Tyson Gay stuck with Bolt in a prediction contest, Greene chose Bolt's fellow Jamaican as his tip for Sunday's final.

"In championships, stars are born and I think there is going to be a surprise in this championship," Greene told a packed news conference."

"(Blake) is crazy enough, mentally tough enough to believe he can go out there and actually win," Greene said of the 21-year-old who ranks 14th on this year's 100 metres list.

"I don't think Blake is fearful of Bolt," he added.

Greene said he meant no disrespect to Bolt, whose world record is 9.58 seconds, "but he is not the same 9.5 runner that he was. He is allowing himself subject to getting beat. That is why I say someone can come up and take him."

Gay, who is recovering from hip surgery, disagreed.

"Usain, he is the favourite," said Gay. "He is a championship performer and I think he has an advantage."

Injured former world record holder Asafa Powell also liked Bolt's chances.

"It's not going to be an easy race based on the times this year," Powell said. "But he (Bolt) is the more experienced one and he's used to winning so he might have the best chance."

The 100 final has lost much of its glitter with the absence of the injured Gay and Powell and the doping suspensions of Jamaican Steve Mullings and American Mike Rodgers.

"But it is still going to be one of the closest races in the championship," Greene said.