A few days after he became the fourth fastest man ever in the 200 meters, Tyson Gay insisted that his 19.70 performance at Lausanne's Athletissima Super Grand Prix last week is hardly his limit.

"Absolutely not," said the 23-year-old, who knocked more than two- tenths of a second from his previous best of 19.93 last Tuesday in what was the deepest men's 200 meter race in history.

"It basically wasn't a big race, so it was basically a race for bragging rights. There were a lot of great 200 meter runners. I was ranked in the top three last year, so I just wanted to prove that I could run with the rest of the guys."

While his performance was overshadowed by winner Xavier Carter, who clocked 19.63 to become the second fastest ever over the long dash, Gay said he wasn't disappointed since most of his focus has been on the 100 meters this season.

"I've been working on the 100 this year so me running 19.70 was a big improvement considering I've been training for the 100. I'm going to run a few more and hopefully I can PR again."

He did however admit that the times he and others produced in the race did catch him by surprise. "I figured 19.90 would win but after [Carter] ran 19.63, I was hoping my time would be 19.69," he laughed. "But I was still happy."

Gay has displayed strong consistency over the short dash this year, clocking a personal best 10.04 on three occasions, most recently last Friday in Rome's Golden Gala where he finished fourth, and 10.07 to finish second in the U.S. championships behind co-world record holder Justin Gatlin.

Gay said he was "very surprised" by the young Carter's performance in Lausanne, a performance that captivated the attention of the athletics world as much as Liu Xiang's 12.88 world record in the 110 meter hurdles that same evening.

"I knew he was a strong person and knew it was going to be a fight to the end, and he edged me out."

Gay will get a chance to turn the table next Friday, July 28, at the Norwich Union London Grand Prix in the British capital, where organizers have assembled another solid field over the half lap. Besides Carter, the field includes American Wallace Spearmom, Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Omar Brown, and Britons Christian Malcolm, Marlon Devonish and Ricky Fifton.