And the 27-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky, added that he could foresee finishing the season as part of a world record-breaking 4x100m relay team alongside his Jamaican rivals Bolt and Asafa Powell at the revamped Continental Cup event in Split.

Gay said after the 2008 Olympics that he would be attuning his mind to running the 100m in 9.69sec - Bolt’s winning time in Beijing - achieved that target in Shanghai last September.

But by the time he achieved that target Bolt had already taken the world record down to 9.5 in finishing ahead of him at the World Championships in Berlin.

Gay insisted today that running 9.69 had been one of his goals even before it had been done by Bolt, adding: "This time I’ve already programmed my mind to fun faster than 9.69 this year.

"He’s the guy that’s got the winning time, and I have to train my mind to match it."

The world 100 and 200m champion of 2007, who says he is "100 per cent" recovered from the operation he had on a groin injury last November, has already run a 400m best of 44.89 this month at a meeting in Gainesville as he builds his strength for the coming season.

"When I ran 45.57 for the 400 I went on to do 19.5 for the 200m, so now I have run 44.89 I should be as fast or faster," said Gay, who will be running the full lap again this Saturday at the Jamaican International meeting where Bolt will be taking part at a shorter distance.

"I think it’s a great correlation. 

"To run so fast in Gainesville when I wasn’t really expecting it, and when I still haven’t started training in spikes, is amazing."

Gay said he is trying to emulate the approach taken by fellow American Michael Johnson, who held both the world 200 and 400m records until Bolt beat his time for the shorter event last summer.

"I will be trying to do a Michael Johnson," Gay said.

"I have the same foot speed as Michael, but I don’t have the strength.

"So I am trying to go about things the way Michael did to get the strength I need.

"Hopefully I can follow his model."

Gay, who is due to meet Bolt and Powell at the Brussels Diamond League meeting in August, was cautious about predicting a world record for the straight-line 200m, which he will be running at Manchester’s Great City Games on May 16 with a view to bettering the 44-year-old mark of 19.5 set by 1968 Olympic 200m champion Tommie Smith.

"Although running a straight 200m should be faster than running it on the bend, I think the pressure of running in a straight line plays on your mind," Gay said.

"A lot of people have said to me that I will feel fatigued by halfway."

But Gay feels easier in his prediction for the end-of-season Continental Cup – a re-vamped version of the World Cup - at which, under the new rules, he could find himself running in a relay team for the Americas along with Bolt, Powell and one other.

"That would be great," he said.

"I know for a fact that we will break the world record if we can all get together.

"I would love to run with those guys on the same team."

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