Usain Bolt to Race in Rio de Janiero in April

Usain Bolt will compete in a 100 metre sprint event here in April as he steps up preparations for next year's Olympic Games, local officials have said.

The 28-year-old Jamaican will face two international rivals and a local sprinter, according to the event organiser Duda Magalhaes, reports Xinhua.

"Next year we'll have the Olympic Games and this is another opportunity to be close to an icon of world athletics," Magalhaes said on Thursday.

The 100m race will be held at the Brazilian Jockey Club on April 19.

It will be Bolt's third consecutive appearance in the event, which he also won in 2013 and 2014.

Bolt won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the London Games in 2012.