World champion Tyson Gay showed he will be a fierce rival to world record holder Usain Bolt for 100-metre gold this summer when he ran a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds to win the US Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Oregon.

Having laid down his marker in the quarter-finals by posting a national record of 9.77 seconds, beating Maurice Greene's nine-year-old mark of 9.79 and also Greene's four-year-old Olympic Trials record of 9.91, Gay was once again in blistering form in Eugene.

Almost a month after the dispiriting experience of following Bolt home on his world-record run of 9.72 in New York City, Gay showed he could not be counted out in Beijing.

Gay dominated the field in the final with a 9.68 run diminished only by the 4.1 miles per second tailwind, way above the permissible legal limit of 2.0.

With the top three earning a spot on the US Olympic team, Gay will be joined by Walter Dix, who clocked 9.80, and Darvis 'Doc' Patton, third in 9.84.

Gay insisted he would not be the Olympic gold medal favourite in Beijing despite running the fastest 100 metres time ever under any conditions.

"I still don't think I'm going to have a lot of pressure on me, even though I ran that time," he said.

"Regardless, it was wind aided so when we go to the next big race, he (Bolt) is still going to be the world record holder."

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