BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Olympic hurdles champion Aries Merritt is facing some of his toughest competition at the IAAF’s 100th anniversary gala.

Three months after winning the 110-metre hurdles at the London Games, Merritt will be up against Jamaica’s sprint legend Usain Bolt and 800-metre gold medallist David Rudisha for the IAAF’s World Athlete of the Year award.

Although Bolt will be tough to beat after the sprinter retained his 100 and 200 titles in London, Merritt did make a case for himself by following up his gold medal run with a world record in the hurdles in September.

“It was a storybook year,” Merritt said yesterday. “This has been a fairytale.”

Merritt’s goal for 2013 will be to go even faster than the 12.80 seconds he ran in Brussels at the Van Damme Memorial on September 7.

Allyson Felix, Valerie Adams and Jessica Ennis — all gold medallists from the London Olympics — are in contention for the women’s award.

Both awards will be announced today.