André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

World 100 metres champion and double Olympic silver medallist Yohan Blake said he would really love to see Real Madrid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo on track in the 100m, an event he believes the Portuguese superstar would do well in.

The Jamaican was speaking yesterday at the New York launch of the adidas 'Energy Boost' technology, which the German manufacturers claim will give runners better bounce, and outlast the current standards in withstanding extreme weather through an improved cushioning system.

"Cristiano is a star at Real Madrid and he is pretty quick. It would certainly be interesting to see how he runs the 100m. I think he would go faster than you would think," said Blake, who was quick to point out that he is actually a fan of Real Madrid's bitter rivals Barcelona.

SPEEDY FOOTBALLER

Ronaldo, who is a close friend of Blake's training partner, Olympic star and double world record holder Usain Bolt, is easily one of the fastest football players on the planet, splitting opinions with Lionel Messi as to who is the best player in the world - even if the latter's record four World Player of the Year awards tilt that argument in his favour.

Blake, who is preparing to defend his world title at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Moscow in August, also gave a peek into his training progress, noting that he has been doing a lot of strength work to increase his power going into the outdoor season.

The 23-year-old, who is also the second-fastest athlete in the history of the 200m with a time of 19.26 seconds, pointed to last weekend's 46.77 run in his 400m season opener - used for speed endurance training - as a positive indicator of where he is at this stage of his prepa-ration.

"I'm training and I'm doing really well. I ran a 400m the other day and I feel really good about it," said Blake. "Usain Bolt is also doing well in training, we train together and I think he will do well again this year."

The still-improving athlete also chipped in on the topic of doping in sport, expressing confidence in the testing systems, which he believes will continue to level the platform and catch sporting cheats.

"I hate doping," Blake said. "It's not good … . The technology is improving for everyone. Hopefully, we can overcome the doping."

Blake finished second to Bolt in both the 100m and 200m finals at the London 2012 Olympic Games and was a member of Jamaica's record-breaking 4x100m relay team.