Move over Greene, says Montgomery

Edmonton is about to witness the greatest sprint showdown in history, says Tim Montgomery.

"It's going to be greater than Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson," declared Montgomery.

The 26-year-old Montgomery is confidently predicting that he will defeat world record holder and compatriot Maurice Greene over 100 metres at the world championships.

"I honestly know I am going to beat Maurice," Montgomery said.

"I have a glow about myself these days. Emotionally, I am on top of the world."

A stunning 9.84-second clocking at Oslo to equal the third fastest 100 metres ever has put the team mate of Marion Jones in a bubbly, confident mood as the world championships and his eagerly-anticipated showdown with Greene approach.

Someone, the self-styled "country boy" from South Carolina says, is going to break a world record, if the Edmonton weather cooperates.

After all, Montgomery adds, any 100 metres final that has him and Olympic champion Greene in the field must be greater than the Lewis-Johnson duels of the 1980s "because we've both run faster than Carl and Ben did."

Greene, whose 1999 world-record 9.79 and a 9.80 two months later are the fastest 100 metres ever, shrugged off the talk.

Perfect conditions with a wind of 2.0 metres per second, the maximum allowable for non-wind-assisted races, gave Montgomery the opportunity to run the race of his life in Oslo, Greene said.

Without the wind, the time would have been 9.95 or 9.96, slower even than Montgomery's 1997 personal best of 9.92 seconds, Greene insisted.

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Montgomery begs to differ. The times are changing and so is the man running them, he says.

"This whole year I never thought he was better than me," Montgomery said. "I am getting into that pattern now where I know I can beat him every time. My workouts say (a world record) 9.75."

No stranger to the speed game, Montgomery has been ranked among America's top five sprinters for the past four years. But acclaim, and fame, have never been his -- until his Oslo breakthrough.

Even an stunning performance early in his career ended up out of the record books.

At the age of 19, as a college student, Montgomery sped to a 9.96-second time for an apparent world junior record The performance was never ratified though, after officials found the track to be four centimetres short and the wind gauge illegally placed.

Two years later, Montgomery ran two rounds but not the final for the U.S. 4x100 metres relay team at the Atlanta Olympics. He finally made it to the world scene with his 9.92 time and bronze medal at the 1997 world championships where Greene won his first gold.

At the following world championships, in Seville in 1999, Greene won again but Montgomery slipped to sixth.

He knew then it was time for a change. He had been living the fast life but not on the track.

"I didn't think I had to lift weights, to come in at night," Montgomery said. "I was taking the sport as a sport, not as a job that could put me where I needed to be."

LUCKY DAY

Searching for a new direction, Montgomery said he even talked to John Smith, Greene's coach, but chose instead to move to Raleigh in 1999 and train with Trevor Graham, Marion Jones's coach.

The payoffs have been many, just slow in coming.

Montgomery made the U.S. team for Sydney as a relay pool member and gained Olympic gold for running an early round of the 4x100 metres relay. The winter brought a silver as the world indoor runner-up at 60 metres.

The real stunner came earlier this month, though, on the unlikeliest of days for a man who had been down on his luck -- Friday the 13th.

Even then, the day started badly. Lost luggage had left Montgomery shoeless and the replacement pair his shoe company supplied were too tight, Montgomery told his coach before his first race in Oslo.

"Marion (Jones) overheard the conversation and threw her shoes at me," Montgomery said.

"I ran the first round in them and the right (shoe) felt a little tight but it wasn't bad. I looked at Trevor and said: 'You know what, I am getting ready to run something very fast.'

"He looked at me and said: 'Just win.' Then the gun went off and it was like....I saw the finish line and something pushed me forward."

Both his slow start and his finish, when he threw his arms in the air to celebrate, gave him reason to believe he can run faster.

"I think I am going to celebrate every Friday the 13th now," said Montgomery, who professes not to be superstitious. "I am going to treat every Friday the 13th as my birthday."