Usain Bolt and Mo Farah run on opening day of London World Athletics Championships
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 05/08/17 3:35pm
Usain Bolt and Mo Farah will be looking to light up London on Friday when the World Championships gets under way at the Olympic Stadium.
Jamaican sprinter Bolt kicks off the defence of his 100m crown in his swansong season as he starts to bring down the curtain on his glittering career.
Bolt, dubbed an "extraordinary competitor" by IAAF president Sebastian Coe, will take to the track as red-hot favourite, having won eight individual finals at the past four Worlds as well as in four 4x100m relay finals.
The 30-year-old Jamaican has only suffered one hiccup - when he false started in the 100m final in Daegu in 2011.
"That's not going to happen this time," joked the eight-time Olympic gold medallist. "If I show up at a championships I'm fully confident."
Coe heaped praise on Bolt on Thursday, but said he remained optimistic in the post-Bolt era despite the cloud of doping still hanging over the sport.
"I'm an athletics fan, I take my federation hat off, the guy has been a sensation," Coe said.
"He's connected in a way that few, in or out of their sport, have connected. I can't think of someone who's connected that way really since Muhammad Ali.
"When we're sitting here with the slightly pre-packaged sports stars that have to look left or right to be able to answer a question most of the time and are nervous, he has a view, he has an opinion and that's what we'll miss.
"Muhammad Ali retired, great boxers came through. You didn't replace Ali but the sport didn't suddenly die so I'm very optimistic about the sport."
While Britain's Laura Muir will attempt a gruelling 1500m-5,000m double, another potential star of the championships will be dazzling long-distance runner Farah who hits the track on Friday.
The 34-year-old Somalia-born Briton is hunting a 10th consecutive global title when he races the sole final of the night, the 10,000m.
Farah is defending the 5,000m and 10,000m titles he retained in Beijing two years ago and has every chance of more gold with British Athletics performance director Neil Black claiming on Thursday the runner would deliver "something special".
Friday's session also features qualifying in the men's discus throw and long jump, and women's pole vault and 1500m.
