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The mouth-watering sprint duel between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay will headline the World Athletics Championships here, offering up what should be one of the most eagerly awaited events ever.

Bolt took the Beijing Olympics by storm last summer, the towering, laid-back Jamaican winning the sprint double gold and also claiming gold as part of Jamaica’s 4×100m relay team, all won – amazingly – in world record times.

He has continued his impressive form into this season, but the year’s best marks in both the 100 and 200m races (9.77 and 19.58 respectively) have been set by archrival Gay, the American who endured a miserable Olympics after rushing back from a debilitating hamstring injury.

The United States has the world’s best track and field team, and it aims to keep its No. 1 position at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin, the head coach of the U.S. team Harvey Glance said on Saturday.

“We hope to have the finest World Championships we have ever had. I think we have the talent on this team to make that happen,” Glance told a press conference at the Berlin Olympic Statium, where some 2,000 athletes will compete in the next nine days.

“We are considered the beat track and field team in the world. I hope by the time we leave Berlin, with the talent that we have, that we continue to hold that title,” Glance added.

The U.S. track and field team has dominated the 11 previous World Championships with its overall total of 228 medals (110 gold, 60 silver and 38 bronze medals). Russia is in second place on the all-time medal table with 122 medals (33 gold, 51 silver and 38 bronze medals).

The highly accomplished 2009 U.S. team consists of 20 Olympic medallists, 28 World Championships medallists and 10 American record holders.

Reigning world champions include Tyson Gay, who will look to defend his world 100m and 200m titles.

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt and 100 meters world champion Tyson Gay both qualified easily for the second round of the men’s 100m in the opening day of the 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships on Saturday.

Jamaica’s Bolt, holder of the 100m and 200m world records from last year’s Beijing Olympics, advanced easily with 10.20 seconds.

Bolt was as usual relaxed and playful before the race. At the starting line, he flashed double-victory signs to the audience, but did not make his typical “lightning bolt” gesture.
Bolt’s main challenger, Tyson Gay of the United States, qualified with 10.16. His best time of the year is 9.77.

“After the false start in my heat, I felt some pain in my leg, but I ran well. The first time in the blocks is always a little tense, and a time for adjusting,” Gay said after the first round of the race.

The competition between Bolt and Gay in the 100m is seen as the most exciting event of the nine-day championships.

Christian Cantwell of the United States beat Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland to win men’s shot put title at the 12th World Athletics Championships on Saturday.

Cantwell’s final mark was 22.03 meters, the best of the season, while Majewski’s mark was 21.91 meters. Cantwell was second to Majewski in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Germany’s Ralf Bartels won the bronze with 21.37 meters, the first medal for the host country. 2007 world outdoor champion Reese Hoffa of the United States was fourth with 21.28 meters.

“Finally I also won an outdoor title. I’m very satisfied. It feels really good,” Cantwell told reporters following his victory on Saturday.

“I’m trying to calm down. I felt too much pressure at the first attempts, but in the fifth, when I was relaxed – I did my best shot,” he added.

Kenya’s Linet Masai broke the Ethiopia’s 10-year dominance to win the women’s 10,000m title at the World Championships here on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Masai overtook Ethiopia’s Meselech Melkamu in the final moment. Melkamu raised her hands and slowed down before crossing the finish line and celebrated too early.

Masai, fourth in the Beijng Olympics, caught Melkamu and women’s 5,000m Olympic champion Meseret Defar on the line in a thrilling final with two meters to go.

“I can’t believe it! I’m so grateful for the win. I didn’t give up,” Masai said.

Masai clocked a season best of 30:50.24 to win. Melkamu finished a tenth of a second behind and compatriot Wude Ayalew wasthird in 30:51.95. Defar took the fifth.

“I’m very disappointed that we lost the gold,” said Melkamu. “For myself personally, I am pleased because this is my first time running this event at the World Championships, so I’m happy I got a medal. But I would have been happy if Meseret had got the gold. I was expecting her to win. I never saw the Kenyan.”

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U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday announced the designation of a presidential delegation to Seoul to attend the funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung on Sunday.

The 10-member delegation is led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The others include Ambassador to Republic of Korea Kathleen Stephens and Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth.

Kim Dae-jung, 85, died early Tuesday. Taking office in 1998, he served as president for five years, during which he met with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-il for the first time since the armistice of the Korean War.

His policy of engagement with Pyongyang was termed the “Sunshine Policy.” Following the inter-Korean summit in 2000, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

PYONGYANG, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday lifted traffic restrictions on its border with South Korea, which, analysts say, is the latest sign the DPRK hopes for a thaw in inter-Korean ties.

The DPRK announced it has completely normalized cross-border traffic for South Korean workers and cargo trains, lifting bans it had imposed since December, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Friday.

Such a measure has not yet been officially reported by DPRK media.

The DPRK made the announcement after Kim Jong Il, the country’s top leader, pledged to ease the restrictions during a visit by Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong Eun earlier this week.
He also guaranteed the safety of South Korean tourists visiting the DPRK and promised to boost bilateral cooperation in developing a jointly run industrial park.

In the so-called “December 1 Measure” imposed in protest of Seoul’s hardline border restrictions, the DPRK restricted the number of times South Korean workers could travel to an industrial park in its border town of Kaesong.

A DPRK delegation, paying a condolatory visit to Seoul for late President Kim Dae-jung, requested on Saturday a meeting with S. Korean President Lee Myung-bak, saying it has brought a message from DPRK leader Kim Jong IL, local media reported.

The request came at a meeting between the DPRK delegates and Seoul’s Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said. Minister Hyun has reportedly delivered the message to the presidential office, it added.

In a related development, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will decide whether to meet DPRK delegation after he listens to a report on inter-Korean meeting from Unification Minister Hyun, Yonhap said.

The DPRK senior delegate Kim Yang Gon said that “inter-Korean relations should be improved soon”, Yonhap said.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) informed South Korea on Thursday that it will lift cross-border traffic restrictions imposed since December in protest of Seoul’s hard-line border restriction, officials said.

Pyongyang sent a message to the South Korea, saying it will lift the restrictions starting Friday, officials said, according to Yonhap News Agency.

In the so-called “December 1 Measure,” the North restricted the number of times South Korean workers could travel to a joint industrial park in its border town of Kaesong.

However, officials in South Korea said it would take a week until the restrictions is lifted due to “technical reasons”, said Yonhap.