Wariner targets assault on Johnson's world recordBy Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner believes he is in good enough shape to break Michael Johnson's nine-year-old 400 meters record of 43.18 seconds. "I want to break this record and be the first one to 42 seconds," Wariner told reporters at the annual Penn Relays on Saturday. "It could happen at any time in the season." Wariner, whose personal best is 43.45 seconds in 2007, said he would be running 400 meters races in the U.S., Berlin and Oslo leading up to June's American Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. He ran the fastest leg (44.0 seconds) for the victorious U.S. men's "blue" squad which clocked two minutes, 59.71 seconds in the 4x400 meters relay on Saturday. Meanwhile, double world sprint champion Tyson Gay said he would like to compete for four gold medals at August's Beijing Games but only expects to have a realistic opportunity of running in three events. Gold medal winner at 100 and 200 meters and 4x100 meters relay at last year's Osaka world championships, Gay said he would also like to run the longer relay in Beijing but does not expect to qualify because of America's strength in the discipline.
