BBC SPORT | Athletics | Sprint rivals seek London glory



By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

Dwain Chambers and Maurice Greene go head-to-head at the Norwich Union Grand Prix promising more fireworks in a season of titanic battles.

Chambers, the new European champion, has already beaten Greene three times this summer.

But Greene, after his most inconsistent season since his first world championship win in 1997, is desperate to reassert the old order.

Dwain Chambers sits next to Maurice Greene at a pres conference
Chambers has beaten Greene three times this season
The pair race at Crystal Palace on Friday night in a stellar line-up that includes Americans Tim Montgomery and Bernard Williams, Commonwealth 100m champion Kim Collins and Commonwealth 200m champion Frankie Fredericks.

And Chambers, who ran a personal best of 9.94 seconds in Zurich last Friday, is gunning for another fast time in front of his home London crowd.

"The pressure was left at the Commonwealths and European Championships," he said.

"It's a case of going out there and winning, and if I'm doing that, good times will follow.

"I would like to believe I could go faster, and the fact that I've run two PBs late in the season is a stepping-stone forward for me."

You have no friends when you're standing there on the start line

Maurice Greene

Chambers' wins over Greene earlier this year led to talk that the mantle of world's best sprinter was about to change hands.

But both men insist talk of a new world order is premature.

"When the opportunity comes, I'll have to seize it," said Chambers.

"Until then, I have to go out there, keep competing against these guys and make it happen.

"It all depends on being in the right place at the right time.

Dwain Chambers celebrates European 100m gold
Chambers' European title has left him in confident mood
"We've been competing now since 1999, and it's been a long road on which I've gained a lot of knowledge.

"Things were different back then. We didn't know each other so well.

"As the years have gone by, there's been a little bit more opportunity to sit down and talk as friends."

Greene, stung by those defeats on the European circuit, knows he has a point to prove.

"When you're on the track, everything is very serious," he said.

"You can't let anything bother you and you can't let anything get in your way.

Greene against the world

"When we're finished, we can go out, have fun. You don't have to be enemies to compete against each other.

"But you have no friends when you're standing there on the start line. It's you against the world.

"I've always thought Dwain was a good runner. You can't overlook someone who's always thereabouts, or they'll come up and bite you.

"But you can never concentrate totally on one person. There are seven other guys in the race, and you have to treat them all the same."


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