Wariner expects to break Johnson's 400 metres world record

Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner said there was "a great possibility" he would break mentor Michael Johnson's 400 metres world record this summer.

"That's a goal for me this year, if not this year, next year," the 21-year-old said during a teleconference announcing his participation in April's Drake Relays at Des Moines, Iowa.

"Me and coach (Clyde) Hart had actually talked about that before, and we both agreed that it is a possible thing for me to do this year or maybe next year," he added.

Johnson, who is now Wariner's agent, set the world record of 43.18 seconds at the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain. Wariner's personal best of 44.00 seconds came during his gold-medal run at the Athens Olympics last year.

"Hart said if I do everything I am supposed to do at practice and then go and run as hard as I can, there is a great possibility I can break it," Wariner said.

Asked whether Johnson believed Wariner could break the world record, Wariner said: "I think he thinks I can, but he does not want to admit it."

"That's Jeremy," Johnson told Reuters in December when talking about Wariner's world record possibilities. "He's confident, but if you are not confident you have no business out there.

"Anything that I can do to help him get there, and reach his full potential, I am going to do," Johnson added.

Five times Olympic champion Johnson lost the indoor 400m world record he had held for a decade last month. Trinidad-born teenager Kerron Clement ran 44.57 to beat the 44.63 Johnson recorded in Atlanta in 1995.