Anniversary Games: Shot put more exciting than 100m - Kim Collins

Gatlin is the fastest man over 100m this year but Bolt is the world record holder

Former world champion Kim Collins says 100m rivals who "duck and hide" from each other are "killing" the event.

Usain Bolt will race in the 100m at the Anniversary Games on Friday with opponents Justin Gatlin, Asafa Powell and Trayvon Bromell not competing.

"I don't see sprinting as the prime event anymore. These boys can hide too much," said Collins, 39.

"Shot put has become more exciting than the men's 100m because we very seldom see the best men lining up."

Bolt is the Olympic and world 100m champion as well as the world record holder in the event.

Americans Gatlin and Bromell, and Jamaican Powell, are the top three athletes in the 100m this year.

Gatlin, the fastest man over 100m and 200m this year, beat Powell and compatriot Tyson Gay in the men's 100m at the Diamond League in Lausanne earlier this month - all three men having served drug bans during their careers.

But any meeting between Gatlin and Bolt could have to wait until the World Championships in Beijing in August.

"Everybody wants to duck and hide. This is not boxing. It's a race. It's what we do," St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Collins, who won Commonwealth gold in 2002 and became world champion in 2003, told BBC World Service programme Sportsworld.

"When you want to duck and hide it is a form of killing the sport and the event."

Gatlin has served two doping bans, having had an eight-year suspension halved to four years after testing positive for testosterone in 2006 - five years after first failing a drugs test in 2001.

"It's unfair that we want to talk about his past. A lot has happened to many of us over the years," said Collins.

"If there's a problem with him then let [anti-doping agency] Wada do its job. Until then, he is running and running fast."