SINGAPORE // Britain's David Bolarinwa and Jamaica's Odane Skeen won their qualifying heats in the 100 metres at the Youth Olympics yesterday, setting up a showdown between the two who have been touted as the future superstars of sprinting. Bolarinwa blew away the field in his heat, winning in 10.62secs. Skeen was slow out of the blocks, but surged through in 10.63 to beat Thailand's Jirapong Meenapra.
The 17-year-old Bolarinwa has the fastest time this year among 16-17-year-olds - setting a time of 10.39 in London earlier this month. Skeen's fastest time is a 10.46, which he set in Jamaica. "I thought let me go there, go hard and see if anyone can go faster," Bolarinwa said. "It was a good performance overall." Skeen was less thrilled with his performance, blaming his slower time on two false starts.
Bolarinwa and Skeen will face each other for the first time and are still sizing one another up. Skeen, for example, was surprised to hear that it was Bolarinwa and not himself who has run the fastest 100m this year. Organisers of the first Youth Olympics have emphasised participation rather than winning, but that was lost on Bolarinwa and Skeen, who both predicted they would win Saturday's final. "It's a big showdown," Bolarinwa said. "He's not really a quick starter. We know that already. His pick up is fantastic and so is mine. If I get a good start, he'll have to take me."
Both boys seemed to relish the comparison to Usain Bolt, the Olympic and world champion at 100m and 200m, and their budding rivalry to that of Bolt and Tyson Gay. Told he has been compared to a miniature Bolt, Skeen just smiled and said he dreams of one day surpassing his idol. "I want to be better than Bolt," said Skeen, whose goal is to win gold at the 2012 Olympics in London. "I want to be much more faster."
Bolarinwa enjoyed being likened to the two sprinting greats, but wants to surpass them," he said. "These guys are fantastic. You look at what they have done. You want to be better than them. "But it's good to have them in the back your mind to look up to." John Powell, Bolarinwa's coach who watched Skeen's heat, said he saw some of Bolt in the young Jamaican. But he was quick to point out that a lot can change with an athlete by the time they reach adulthood.
"You don't know how they will develop, this is the thing," Powell said of Skeen. "He's about 16 and that is two or three years of formative years as an athlete." In other action yesterday, Rolandas Mascinskas, the Lithuania rower, upset Felix Bach, Germany's two-time world junior champion, to win the junior men's single sculls gold. In the women's single sculls, Judith Sievers of Germany got the better of Natalia Kovalova of the Ukraine.
In men's 77kg weightlifting, Russia's Artem Okulov took gold ahead of Thailand's Chatuphum Chinnawong, to help maintain his country's lead in the medal standings. * Agency
