Sprint ace Usain Bolt seems set to open his Diamond League campaign at the Compeed Golden Gala, in Rome on May 26.

The meet will be the third leg of the 2011 Samsung Diamond League series. The double world record holder will be hoping for a better season than last year, which saw his time on the track cut short by injury and included a loss to American rival Tyson Gay at their last meeting, the Diamond League fixture in Stockholm last August. The sprint star is expected to take part in the 100m event and looked forward to his first visit to the Italian capital.

"I'm looking forward to test the reaction of the Roman crowd, whose love for sports is well known worldwide. I know that the Olympic stadium has a very fast track, as some of the best sprinters ran remarkable times there in the last 10 years. I hope to put my name on that list, hopefully somewhere on the top," Bolt was quoted as saying on the IAAF's official website.

However, the fastest time recorded on the track, the meet record, is held by Gay, who ran a blistering 9.77 last year.

"I am working hard to be ready for the 26th of May," Bolt said. "It will be my first European and Samsung Diamond League competition, in a season leading to the IAAF World Championships in Daegu. I am fully recovered, after the injury I suffered last summer, and the training has been going according to the plans of my coach. I am confident I will be able to get the best shape at the right time in the summer."

Bolt, the defending Olympic and World Champion, suffered somewhat of an injury- hampered season last year, hurting his heel early on, before sustaining a lower back injury which forced him to call it quits on the 2010 season. Bolt will be joined at the meet by another world record holder, Kenyan middle distance runner David Rudisha.

The Kenyan set two World records in the 800m in 2010, the second, a sensational 1:41.01, at the IAAF World Challenge Meeting in Rieti, the historical town not far from the Italian capital.