Usain Bolt will be attempting to be the first man to win three back-to-back Olympic 100m titles.
A win would earn him his seventh Olympic gold, and take him one step closer towards managing the ‘treble treble’.
To do it, he’ll have to beat Justin Gatlin, the fastest man in the world this year, as well as six of the quickest men on the planet.
Bolt has had a difficult campaign – most notably after a grade one hamstring tear in the heart of the season disrupted his preparations. While the big Jamaican has not taken the event by storm so far this year – his season’s best of 9.88 places him fourth on the world lists – he still boasts a four from four record this season and with an unimpeachable championship record it would be a brave man who would back against him securing the golden 100m treble.
Predictably, his main rival is Gatlin, who himself is seeking to create history by becoming the first man in history to regain an Olympic title having triumphed at the Athens Games 12 years earlier.
Like Bolt, Gatlin has had to overcome adversity by way of an ankle injury in the countdown to his 2016 campaign and like the Jamaican he too boasts a 100 per cent record this year with seven wins in as many races.
Gatlin missed out by a whisker on toppling Bolt at last year’s World Championships and the 34-year-old veteran will not to fazed by the task ahead.
The full timings (GMT) are:
100m heat: Sat, 1.30pm
100m semi: Mon, 1am
100m final: Mon, 2.25am