BIRMINGHAM - All eyes will be firmly set on Christian Coleman at the IAAF World Indoor Championships just seven months after the rising US star claimed world outdoor 100m silver ahead of the now-retired Usain Bolt.
Coleman, 21, comes into the meet in Birmingham, England, having set a new world indoor record for the 60m, blasting to victory in an altitude-assisted 6.34sec at the US championships in Albuquerque last month.
Coleman's time shaved 0.05sec off the existing world indoor record set by fellow American Maurice Greene in Madrid in 1998.
The American was initially believed to have broken Greene's 60m record at a meeting in Clemson, South Carolina, on January 19, where he clocked 6.37sec.
However that time was not ratified because the meeting at which it took place was not using electronic starting blocks.
"I wanted to go get it, but it pretty much felt like a blur," Coleman said of the record.
"I just wanted to be the first to get to the finish line. I had put in a lot of work on my start, so it feels pretty good to do it."
In the absence of Jamaican Bolt, Coleman insisted he was not getting carried away.
"I have to continue to work hard and stay focused on task in hand," he said.
A sure showing at the Birmingham Arena would confirm Coleman as the first sprint phenomenon of the post-Bolt era.
WORLD RECORD!! 6.37s. Great start to my career. Thank You God🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/fUZQEpuPgw
— Christian Coleman (@__coleman) January 20, 2018
Coleman's main rivals will include American teammates Ronnie Baker and Michael Rodgers, as well as China's Su Bingtian, who set a 6.50 stadium record in Glasgow on Sunday, as well as Olympic 100m finalist Ben Youssef Meite of the Ivory Coast.
The women's 60m sees Meite's compatriot Marie Josee Ta Lou as one of the big favourites following victories in Torun and Glasgow.
The 29-year-old world outdoor 100m and 200m silver medallist has been in consistent fine form all winter and sped to a season's best of 7.07sec in Scotland last weekend.
American Javianne Oliver, who leads the world rankings with 7.02sec, will push her all the way, while Jamaican Elaine Thompson, defending Olympic double sprint champion, has not come close to the 6.98sec she ran last indoor season.
But after finishing third in Glasgow in 7.12sec, Thompson should be capable of providing a challenge for a podium placing.
European hopes will likely rest on the shoulders of Germany's Tatjana Pinto and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands, the two-time world outdoor 200m champion who won silver medal in 2016.