Yohan Blake

BIRMINGHAM, England:

He may be extremely good friends with the world's fastest man Usain Bolt, but American 200m medal hopeful Wallace Spearmon has been left in awe by the beastly Yohan Blake, who he warned, is the real deal.

Blake, owner of the second fastest 200m time recorded in history - 19.26, which is bettered only by Bolt's world record 19.19, shocked the world - including Spearmon who watched in disbelief, with victories over his more-celebrated training partner in the 100m and 200m at Jamaica's Olympic trials a few weeks ago in Kingston.

Despite still struggling to tie down the curve, the 100m world champion, according to Spearmon, is an entirely new monster these days and will definitely figure prominently in the proceedings at the Olympic Games.

"When you have a finish like that; his finish is even better than mine, truth is he doesn't need to have a great curve, I think he is doing exactly what he needs to do, he is running his own race, the times are coming, he is winning - can't argue with that," Spearmon told STAR Sports yesterday.

"I think it's going to be a good show, you have Blake, Bolt, myself and Churandy (Martina) and a whole bunch of names; there are a lot of guys who can make a big splash in this race," Spearmon added before sharing his thoughts on Blake's 200m win at the Jamaican trials.

"I saw the Jamaican trials. I saw Blake finish as strong as ever and it seems like he is losing a little bit of weight so that's probably gonna help him a lot for that 200m," said Spearmon. "It seems he has hit the weight very hard earlier in the season and he seems to have now backed off so he lost some weight, so he will go quicker, will not be losing the strength, he is the real deal."

Spearmon, who himself won at the US Trials in Eugene and has gone 19.95 so far this year, is happy with his own preparations and reminded that it's what an athletes does on the day that matters and that he expects his experience to give him an advantage.

"It doesn't matter what you run until you get there though because you never know what is going to happen at the Olympics," Spearmon warned. "My experience is gonna play a big role, I have been around for a while."

Spearmon