Usain Bolt, right, beat Tyson Gay at last year's world championships in Berlin, setting a stunning world record of 9.58 seconds in the process. (Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

Is the world record in the men's 100 metres set to fall once again?

It's possible when you consider two of the three fastest men on the planet — Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States — will compete at the Stockholm Diamond League track and field event on Friday (streamed live on CBCSports.ca at 2 p.m. ET).

The matchup of heavyweights includes the world-record holder in the 100 (Bolt) and another man (Gay) who is tied for the second-fastest time ever at the distance.

The event had looked even more tantalizing until former 100 world-record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica pulled out Wednesday night due to a back injury.

Powell's withdrawal spoiled the chance for the first showdown between the trio since their blistering Berlin world championship performance last August, when Bolt broke his own 100-metre record with an eye-popping 9.58. Gay ran 9.71 and Powell finished in 9.72.

That race capped off a period of two years in which the world record was lowered by a whopping two-10ths of a second. To put that in perspective, when Jim Hines of the U.S. ran 9.95 in the friendly altitude of Mexico City in 1968, it took over three decades to reduce his time by a similar amount.

It all began when Powell eclipsed his own mark with a 9.74 time in September 2007. Bolt then broke that record twice in 2008 — a 9.72 in New York City and his electrifying 9.69 at the Beijing Games.

Bolt breaks out in Beijing

Bolt would soon take the world by storm with his world records in the 100 and 200 in Beijing, and he and Powell helped set another one for Jamaica in the 4x100 relay.

Gay knows what it takes to beat Bolt, albeit some time ago and at a longer distance. The American won gold at the 2007 Osaka world championships in the 200 in a time of 19.76, with a then 21-year-old Bolt second at 19.91.

Gay sports an 0-2 record in the 100 when pitted against Bolt, but with the Jamaican absent in Shanghai in September 2009, he blazed to a 9.69 time. It is the second-fastest official time ever, matching what Bolt accomplished a year earlier in Beijing.

The Fayetteville, Ark., native also once ran a wind-aided 9.68 in 2008.

At Gateshead in England in early July, Gay marked his season debut in the 100 by catching Powell from behind in the final, winning by 3-100ths of a second with a time of 9.93.

The following week in Paris, Powell stormed off to a strong start against his countryman, but the long strides of Bolt eventually proved too much to overcome. Bolt crossed the finish line first in 9.84 seconds in the Diamond League meet, with Powell second.

Gay hampered by hamstring

As Powell showed with his back problem, injuries are always a threat to derail a big race between high-profile sprinters. Gay, who has mostly run the 200 this summer, has been bothered by a hamstring problem.

He didn't compete in June, and finished second to compatriot Walter Dix in his first race back, a 200 on July 3 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore.

Bolt dealt with an Achilles tendon strain, with his absence and return just about mirroring that of Gay.

He came back after a June spent recuperating by posting a 9.82 victory on July 8 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bolt told The Associated Press in late July he believes someone will one day run the 100 in the 9.4-second range.

"I always say that probably 9.4 is possible," Bolt said. "I hope I can be the one to get there because I work very hard and I want nothing but to be the best."