Race Features Boldon, Christie, Mitchell

The race at Charlety Stadium in Paris tonight cannot be a preview of next month’s Olympic 100-meter final, but the quality of the sprinters might be even better.

Among the competitors are Great Britain’s Linford Christie, the 1992 Olympic champion; Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks, who earlier this week ran the third-fastest time ever (9.87 seconds); Canada’s Donovan Bailey, the 1995 world champion, and Bruny Surin, the ’95 World Championships runner-up; Trinidad’s Ato Boldon, the NCAA champion from UCLA who has run 9.92 this year; and the United States’ Leroy Burrell, the world-record holder at 9.85; Dennis Mitchell, winner of the recent Olympic trials in 9.92, and Jon Drummond, third place in the trials.

At least one of those will not be running the 100 in Atlanta. Burrell finished sixth in the U.S. trials, although he has been selected for the sprint relay. Christie and Fredericks have not committed to run the event in Atlanta.

Fredericks said that he might focus solely on his pursuit of world-record holder Michael Johnson in the 200. Fredericks has entered tonight’s 200 in the Gaz de France Grand Prix meet against Jeff Williams, second to Johnson in the U.S. trials and third in the world last year.