Coleman: “London will be a special event”

The American, who broke the 60m indoor world record earlier this year, burst onto the scene in London last year when he won an IAAF World Championship silver medal in the men’s 100m final, beating Usain Bolt in the process.

Coleman is relishing the chance to be back on a track that helped announce him as one of the big hitters in world athletics.

He said: “I love running in London and I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to come back because I think it will be a really special event.

“Every time I run in the UK it’s amazing. The fans love track and field so it’s a great atmosphere. You don’t always get that in the United States so I love being there and I’m really excited to be back in London to run.”

Since that 9.94 silver medal winning run in London last year, comparisons have been made between the 22-year-old and Usain Bolt, with Coleman dubbed as the potential successor to his crown as an athletics icon.

The American welcomes the comparisons but insists no one can ever replace Bolt, stressing his challenge is to try to emulate what Bolt has done in his own career.

“I don’t pay much attention to it,” he said. “He will forever have his name etched into the sport and cannot be replaced. It’s Usain Bolt, you can’t ever replace that.

“All I can try to do is etch my name into history next to him and try to be one of those great sprinters and maybe in a couple of years have people saying, ‘who will be the next Christian Coleman?’

“There’s so many guys with a lot of talent that want to claim that role and I think I have the ability to be the fastest in the world, I just want to take advantage of that.”

Coleman has already competed at an Olympic Games as a part of the men’s 4x100m relay team in Rio, 2016, as well as claiming an IAAF World Indoor gold over 60m in Birmingham earlier this year.

He feels that to be where he is in his career at such a young age shows the work he has put in, but he wants to continue pushing for more medals and accolades throughout his career.

“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have expected to be at this point in my career but things kept going and I kept developing and now I would say it’s not a shock or surprise because I put in a lot of work.

“I realised I can compete at this level when I made the Olympic team in 2016 and from that point on I set my goals really high and I was able to achieve some great things and that gives me a lot of confidence. Nothing that happens from this point on is a shock for me.

“I’ve put in a lot of work and I’m really blessed. I still wouldn’t say I’m shocked, more that it’s a testament to the work that I’ve put in over the last few years.

“You don’t get that many opportunities to win a global title so when you get them you have to take advantage of them. I was able to come away with a gold medal. That was the goal at the beginning of the season and it it’s a huge compliment.”

Christian Coleman will race in the men’s 100m on Saturday 21 July at the Müller Anniversary Games.