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Coleman poised to 'attack' sprint double

Shanghai - Christian Coleman warned on Friday that he was primed to "attack" a season that the American sprinter hopes will end in him becoming 100m and 200m world champion.

The joint-seventh fastest man in history begins his Diamond League campaign in Shanghai on Saturday ahead of what promises to be a career-defining 14 months.

The world championships take place in Doha in September-October and the Tokyo Olympics are next summer.

With Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt retiring in 2017, men's sprinting has a void and the 23-year-old Coleman has been touted as a possible successor.

Like Bolt, Coleman - the world 100m silver medallist - would dearly like to reign in the 100m and 200m.

"I was supposed to run both last year but ended up getting injured and decided just to focus on the 100m," he said in Shanghai.

"Coming into this year it was always the plan to try to attack both of them and try to make the (US) team in both and go for the gold medal in both of them, so we will see."

Coleman and Michael Norman, 21, have risen to the top of the highly competitive world of US sprinting on the back of impressive 2018s.

Their US team-mate Noah Lyles, himself just 21, is another of the new generation.

Lyles and Coleman will go head-to-head in Shanghai over what promises to be a mouthwatering 100m.

Coleman last year set a world-record 6.34 over 60 metres indoors and won the world indoor title.

But a hamstring injury struck the sprinter, who took world outdoor 100m silver in London in 2017 behind Justin Gatlin, but ahead of Bolt.

A fit-again Coleman roared back to run a blistering 9.79 at the Diamond League 100m final in Brussels at the end of August, making him the joint-seventh fastest man of all time.

The American, who missed the Shanghai meeting last year because of injury, is trying to keep all thoughts of the 2020 Olympics out of his mind.

But he admitted: "It's hard to not look forward to Tokyo and focus on this season because growing up, making the Olympic team and being an Olympian was something you dream about and that's the pinnacle of the sport.

"But for right now, the world championships is my main focus."  

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