Yohan Blake - File

There has been much discussion on the sustainability of having two direct rivals train together, but as far as fast-rising sprinter Yohan Blake is concerned, he is quite comfortable training with double world-record holder Usain Bolt - a man he still considers to be a big influence and motivation for his own development.

Blake, the world 100m champion, has spent the last few years understudying the Olympic double sprint champion, and though he seems to have closed the gap on his more celebrated Racers Track Club stablemate, the former St Jago High School student understands that he still has a lot to gain.

"Usain and I have a wonderful friendship," Blake told Star Sports.

"We enjoy training together and that is the most important thing. The situation certainly works for me and nothing will break that. Yes, when we are on the track it's all business, but outside of that it's just a great environment."

serious challenges

Blake's statement comes in the wake of Kim Collins' assessment that the situation, which sees the superstar Jamaicans training together was unprecedented and could pose serious challenges in the future.

In truth, The Blake-Bolt tandem at Racers is not novel to the athletics world.

Not too far away at the University of the West Indies, Mona, based MVP Track Club, former world 100m Asafa Powell, 9.76 seconds sprinter Nesta Carter and former World Championships 100m bronze medallist Michael Frater all train together, while Olympic 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker and IAAF Diamond League 400m hurdles winner Kaliese Spencer also train together at the club.

Eight-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis also trained at the Santa Monica Track Club with Leroy Burrell, a man he exchanged the 100m world record with on four occasions. Also in that outfit was 1988 Olympic 200m champion Joe DeLoach, who relegated Lewis to the silver medal at the games. The 200m silver medallist from the previous Olympic Games Kirk Baptiste was also a part of that group.

Blake in the meantime is focusing on the season ahead and made it clear that he will not be putting himself under any undue pressure following last year's breakthrough.

"Everything has been going well, my preparation for the 2012 season is shaping up well, I really can't complain and I have a lot to give thanks for," said Blake.

"I am certainly not feeling any pressure after last season, I have a great coach in Glen Mills, who has prepared me for all these things and I understand that I will have ups and downs, but I will just have to work through them when they come," Blake added.

"I know that there are a lot of expectations around me this season but I am just going to go out there and see how well I can improve."