Greene: MLF has the beating of Chambers

"I know it's a big title and a big race. I'd like to see it myself because these guys are going to want it bad."

Greene had heard all about Chambers' injury woe at the recent European Championship trials and it's that brief setback which tempts him to predict that when the 19-year-old Lewis-Francis lines up in tomorrow's heats he may be in a position to finally beat Britain's number one at the eighth attempt.

"You'd never count out Dwain because he's been there before but I'm not sure that he sounds in 100 per cent shape," said Greene.

The cynical thought is that Greene would say that so that he could have a little dig at Chambers, who has been crowing ever since his Birmingham problems that he's now as "fit as a whistle", after twice being trounced by him this year.

Even if there's no doubt that the Olympic champion was hardly best prepared for the fray in what is effectively a sabbatical season for him with no global title to aim for, there also seems little argument that the Londoner has begun not just to believe in himself but also to believe he has Greene's measure.

"I've done a bit of growing up," Chambers, 24, explained earlier in the week.

"I've been licked by Maurice so many times that beating him twice in succession makes me believe there's no reason why I can't do it again."

You could almost imagine Greene smiling down the phone as he pondered these comments. "Well I regularly run between 9.79 and 9.85 seconds at my best," Greene noted.

"Dwain's best, I believe, is 9.97 so, although he's always getting better, he's got a lot of improving to do.

"Maybe with his new coach (Ukrainian adviser, Remi Korchemny) he can but I still see a lot of flaws, technical problems, in his racing."

What flaws, Maurice? "You think I'm gonna tell you that?" he responded, chuckling.

Greene is not about to be too effusive about the pair who, along with Americans Tim Montgomery and Bernard Williams look to be the only ones capable of stopping him winning a fourth successive world 100m title in Paris next year.

Yet, like former Olympic champion Donovan Bailey, who hailed Lewis-Francis as the most gifted sprinter he'd ever seen, he can still hardly hide how impressed he is by the boy who finished way ahead of him in Sheffield.

"He's already proven how good he is," said Greene.

"In Britain, you believe in him and so you should. He's so young and there's so much expectation on him but I Iike the way he handles himself. Actually, I'd say one of the best qualities of both him and Dwain are that they're fighters."

He was intrigued to learn that the fighters were now even beginning to turn on each other.

Lewis-Francis's suggestion that Chambers had been "cynical" in avoiding a meeting with him in the European Championship trials was the first time that the youngster had dared rock the boat when talking about his elders.

In turn, Chambers' tart retort - "Don't talk the talk, son, unless you can walk the walk" - may have signalled the start of USstyle trash talking which Greene knows all about.

"The rivalry has got to be good for bringing out the best in each other," pondered Greene, though Chambers still believes that, despite his dig at Lewis-Francis with whom he's always got on well, the British sprinters "were not there to fight one another because we need to stick together to take on the Americans".

In the future, such harmony may not be possible.

Greene has made a good call by suggesting Lewis-Francis's time is nigh. Since he was a 14-year-old shredding world age bests, he has simply never stopped looking the most prodigious talent British sprinting has ever produced.

When asked about his rarest of gifts the other week, he spluttered: "I don't know how I do it. Seriously, I really don't know how I do it."

Nobody does. What we do know is that he was only 0.04secs behind Chambers at the trials and only 0.02secs behind at Sheffield. One decent start from MLF on Manchester's super-slick Mondo track in the final this Saturday and he will take some beating.

Greene reckons they both have to watch Kim Collins, the everconsistent, Texas-based sprinter who flies the flag for St Kitts and Nevis.

However, he expects the two Englishmen to have sorted out the major medals between them in the Commonwealth and European Championships by the time he returns for a showdown with the pair at the Norwich Union Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on 23 August (Palace ticket hotline: 0870 4444440).

"I've been training well and I'll be a lot more prepared for that race than the last time," he said.

"The man who ran 10.24 seconds in Sheffield won't be there but the real Maurice Greene will. Tell them they better bring their A games with them."

They have been warned.