American 400m hurdler Bershawn Jackson has begun the 2006 season with outstanding victories in Osaka and Doha - the former in a world best time of 47.60 seconds - leading many to believe his reign at the top of his event will continue.

Next up is the Pre Classic on May 28th where he will face James Carter, the 2005 World Championships silver medallist, and Kerron Clement, the reigning US champion.

A year ago the now 22- year- old Raleigh, N.C. resident won the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki recording a personal best time of 47.30 seconds. It was a most impressive performance taking into account the horrendous conditions the athletes faced. A torrential downpour accompanied by cold temperatures suggests his time could have been much faster. Jackson himself believes it was equivalent to around 47.0.

Kevin Young's world record is 46.78 seconds and has stood since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Jackson is hardly the prototypical world class hurdler. First of all he stands a mere 5'7" tall, a considerable deficit when clearing barriers that can bruise when struck. And, unlike most athletes in a highly technical event he can't explain his stride pattern between hurdles.

"I don't know my stride pattern," he claims, "I never knew it. My coach (George Williams) tried to teach me it but I don't want to know because what I am doing now is working. So I just want to stick with it. I just go out there and run. That's it."

"I did a lot of stutter stepping before. That was one of the causes of me not making the 2004 Olympic team cause I stuttered at the last hurdle and I haven't done it ever since. It wasn't because I was tired and was fatigued. I don't know what happened. I know I stutter stepped and it's a problem I had all that year."

It was Carter who won the 2004 Olympic trials, going on to finish 4th in Athens duplicating his finish in the Sydney games four years earlier. The Pre Classic therefore will be another clash between the event's heavyweights.

Jackson's rise has been swift. Just three years ago he earned a bronze medal at the world junior championships. Now he is looking to be the dominant athlete in his event for another decade. Still, there remains disappointment that he did not make the Athens Olympic team and he says he could not bring himself to watch the race on television.

"No, I watched the opening ceremonies and I cried," he says. "That was it. Until this day I never have seen the 400m hurdles. Until this day I don't know the results of the 400m hurdles, I have never seen the results."

He started out as a 400m runner in high school but a coach entered him in a 300m hurdles race and suddenly he was ranked second on the all time high school lists. He would finish 4th at the US high school nationals. Now he is a hurdles specialist rarely tackling the 400m flat event.

"I have a 45.4 second personal best but I don't really run the 400m," he explains. "Like last year, I ran the 400m probably twice. And this year I will probably run it once. I don't really have time to run it because, you know, who wants to pay Bershawn Jackson to run a 400m? I could run a really good 400m. Indoors my personal record is 45.7 and my personal record in the 200m is 20.30, so I could run a good 400m. I just don't have time to run it."

Although he professes to be a bit of a novice when it comes to understanding the history of his event, he, naturally, has heard of the great Edwin Moses. And he admits having respect for Felix Sanchez, who did win the 2004 Olympic gold medal for the Dominican Republic . Jackson also claims the 400m hurdles are now a poor cousin to some of the other events on the calendar.

"In my opinion, when Felix Sanchez was on top it (the 400m hurdles) was a marquis event," he laments, "and now there's new athletes and new faces taking over the event. Now it's promotional. We could run up against every event. When Felix would win, the prize money was $15,000, when somebody else is on top the prize money is $3,000. I think we are in the hardest and most technical event. We are the least likely to expect anything."

"Felix Sanchez is a great athlete, very competitive. I don't really look forward to racing anybody. Whoever steps on the track is who I am going to race. I don't have rivals; everybody is my competition."

Clearly this young man has money on his mind. That's not surprising since he and his fiance are the proud parents of a one year old daughter Shawnte Jackson. On his recent trip to Osaka and Doha , an excursion that took him away for two and a half weeks, he admitted feeling homesick.

"That's my number one motivator, my daughter Shawnte Jackson. She was one on May 2nd. She s getting big, so fast," he gushes. "Oh man, fatherhood has changed me a lot because when I compete I have a mouth to feed. So I have got to run harder. I have a family now. It motivates me more to know I have to tend to my business or my daughter can't eat."

Jackson has put his business in the hands of Australian agent Peter Stubbs and reveals a full plate for the rest of the season.

"I have Pre, I have Ostrava, Turin, US nationals then Rome and Paris and after that I don't know what else," he reveals. "And, yes I most definitely want to go to the World Cup in Athens . But in the US only the winner goes, so I have got to win nationals to go. It is in Athens, I heard Athens is a great place to run!"

Apart from spending time with his family and at the track, Jackson enjoys bowling and going to the movies being a big fan of both comedy and horror. He is also a full time student at St. Augustine College where he is pursuing a degree in accounting.

"I graduate next May," he says. "It is very hard with all the travelling, going to Europe and travelling and going to school. I read a lot on the plane and do a lot by email. I have got a 3.1 grade point average."

Clearly this young man has a bright future both on and off the track; he is a true ambassador for American track and field. But there is one more thing that drives him, a goal that must be met.

"Oh man, the Olympics. It's really big to me. It's my main goal," he declares. "I won the world championships, hopefully I can win the world championships next year, but the Olympics are something real big."

"If you speak to people the only thing they know is the Olympics. The only time people really watch track and field is during the Olympics. It would be great if I win '08, 12 and 16. Cause in 2012 I will only be 27 years old."