Usain Bolt has hinted that Asafa Powell may be more of a threat to his 100 metres world record than American Tyson Gay.

The 22-year-old Bolt recovered from a typically slow start on Saturday and ran past Powell at the halfway stage to set the year's fastest non-wind assisted time of 9.86 seconds over the distance at the Jamaica national championships.

"I would say Asafa is coming into shape and that is a good thing," said Bolt following the race.

Powell, the former 100m world record holder, was faster out of the blocks, and seemed to have control of the race before Bolt took command.

The 27-year-old Powell had to settle for second in a time of 9.97 seconds, with Michael Frater finishing third in 10.02.

Getting better

"His ankle is getting better," he added. "It is going to be a good season. As soon as he gets into shape, it's going to be very interesting," Bolt added.

Powell injured his ankle earlier in the season, running in the United States, but has slowly been regaining his form.

Similarly, Gay was a non-factor at last year's Olympic Games in Bejing, where Bolt made a name for himself with a world record sprint double, as well as being a member of the World record breaking Jamaica 4x100m relay team.

Hamstring strain

The American suffered a hamstring strain early in the 2008 season and was clearly way below his best at the Olympics, where he failed to reach either 100m or 200m finals.

But last Thursday, Gay clocked a wind-assisted 9.75 seconds in his first 100m of the season at the United States trials in Eugene, Oregon.

After the race, Gay openly expressed that he could break Bolt's world record if he could improve his start.

"Personally, no disrespect to Tyson, but that is going to be a hard for task for him," said Bolt, when asked to respond to Gay's comments.

"Tyson is more of a 200 runner than a 100 runner, so it is going to be very hard. He had a lot of [wind] assistance for that time. It is going to be very hard for him."