ZURICH, Aug 13: World sprint champions Maurice Greene and Ato Boldon have a chance to make more than $18,000 per second by smashing the 100 metres world record at the richest meeting in athletics today.

American Greene, the men's 100 m champion at this month's World Championships and Trinidad's Boldon, the 200m champion, disclosed yesterday they have both been offered double the usual world record bonus of $50,000 at the Zurich Grand Prix.

With both likely to pick up an estimated $80,000 for just appearing at the Weltklasse meeting, one of them could walk away at least $180,000 richer if Donovan Bailey's record of 9.84 seconds is broken.In addition to the cash bonus, world records are also worth one kilo of gold to athletes.

Zurich organisers have matched the $100,000 world record bonus which was on offer at the Athens World Championships for the two sprinters. But one of them will have to beat Olympic champion Bailey to make the money.

Boldon and Greene are training partners as well as rivals. Despite winning the 200m, Boldon has a point to prove in Zurich after finishing fifth in the 100m in Athens when Greene ran just 0.02 seconds outside Bailey's world record set at last year's Atlanta Olympics.

Boldon believes the world of men running 100 metres under 9.8 seconds is not so far away.

Today's 100m is expected to include seven of the eight finalists from the World Championships in Athens as long as Bailey has recovered fully from a groin injury he picked up at the weekend in Canada's sprint relay triumph.

Greene said he did not feel any extra pressure despite the fact he was now the man everyone wanted to beat. ``There is no pressure. I am capable of doing the job,'' he said. Denmark's Wilson Kipketer will try to erase the oldest and most prestigious world record today and with it the name of one of the greatest middle-distance runners ever Britain's Sebastian Coe.

After equalling Coe's world record of one minute 41.73 seconds for the 800 metres in Stockholm earlier, the double World Champion, a former Kenyan, will run in the most lucrative Grand Prix meeting in athletics looking to make history and more than $130,000.

Last week Kipketer made the defence of his world 800 tittle in Athens in 1:43.38 look easy.

Kipketer was just a 10-year-old growing up in Kenya when Coe breezed around a track in Florence to set the world record in June 1981 with one of the most astonishing middle-distance performances of all time.

Twice last season, Kipketer neared the world record after missing the Atlanta Olympics because he was not cleared to run for his adopted country.Organisers of the Zurich event are reluctant to announce world record attempts in advance. But the financial incentive is always there.

A world record is worth $50,000 in cash plus one kilo of gold, Kipketer could expect to earn a fee of at least $80,000 for just stepping out on to the track. In addition, his shoe sponsors would be expected to give him a huge bonus for breaking new ground in the sport.

Some 25 champions, 22 silver and 20 bronze medalists from the Athens championships are scheduled to compete in a meeting which is known on the circuit as the ``The Olympics in one night.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.