THE SIDELINES : Lewis-Johnson Race ‘Up in Air’

Olympic 100 meters champion Carl Lewis said today it is still possible that he could race former world record holder Ben Johnson this year.

“It could be any time from September to next year,” Lewis told a news conference before the Lausanne Grand Prix track meet.

Johnson, who finished first in the 1988 Seoul Olympic 100 meters final, was stripped of the gold medal after testing positive for performance-enhancing anabolic steroids.

Agents for both sprinters have been trying to arrange a match when the Canadian’s automatic two-year suspension by the International Amateur Athletic Federation ends Sept. 24.

“It’s still up in the air,” Lewis said. “Joe Douglas (Lewis’s manager) has mentioned Japan, Spain, the United States, some other places in Europe.”