NEW YORK, USA (AFP) — US sprinter Tyson Gay, the second fastest man ever over 100 metres, confirmed yesterday he will run his first race in nearly a year at this weekend’s Adidas Grand Prix in New York.

Gay will not race directly with Jamaican world champion Yohan Blake in the featured 100m event, but will compete in a preliminary race at the Diamond League meeting.

“I’m going to race a low-key 100m at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York on Saturday,” the 29-year-old said on Facebook.

“My first race in nearly a year. I want to see where I am before the US Trials (in Eugene, Oregon from June 21 to July 1).”

The double world champion over 100m and 200m in 2007, Gay has not competed since withdrawing from the 100m semi-final at the US World Championships trials in Eugene last June. He later had surgery on the hip.

Gay has endured a frustrating few years, including a hamstring injury in a 200m heat at the 2008 Olympic Trials. In 2009 he had a groin injury, followed by last year’s hip injury.

But he insists he wants to compete in the London Olympics.

“It’s my goal, I want an Olympic medal,” he said last March.