EUGENE, Oregon: Double world champion Tyson Gay raised sprinting to a new level with his wind-assisted run of 9.68 seconds at the US Olympic trials, American men's athletics coach Bubba Thornton said on Monday.

"He has demonstrated, whether the wind was 4.1 (meters per second) or not, a 9.6 (legal race) is in there for him,"Thornton said in an interview a day after Gay's blazing 100m win to make his first Olympic team.

"It showed his stength development," Thorton added. "Also his ability to close."