Stephen Francis - File

For now, Melaine Walker's wish to run the 100m hurdles will remain just that.

The Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion has expressed a greater love for the sprint hurdles, but her coach, Stephen Francis, said she will not tackle that event any time soon.

Run the shorter

Walker, who won the Olympic title in Beijing in a Games record 52.64 seconds, said she would prefer to run the shorter event but that the decision rested with her coach.

When the possibility of Walker competing in the 100m hurdles next season was tossed to Francis on Tuesday, he replied with a stern: "No, no.

She has been making a lot of .... I don't want to say threats, but she has incurred the wrath of Ms (Jana) Rawlinson, and I am sure she is going to have to work to back up her statements," added Francis.

Always geared up

In an interview with STAR Sports earlier this month, Walker said she was always geared up to defeat Rawlinson at every meet, but the Australian never showed up, mainly because of injury, which made things easy for her.

"I always ended up winning but part of that was my determination to defeat her and I never had a chance to," Walker said then.

In a twist to Walker's comment, Rawlinson promised that come next season she would get her wish.

"Next year we are going full gung-ho mainly because Melaine Walker has come out (and won the Olympic)," she said.

Rawlinson, a double World Champion, also took offence to some of Walker's comments.

"She (Walker) also put on the end of the article that she feels like I dodged her this year, so I'll race her in every race I can next year to make sure we get a good go at it," she added.

Eager to prove their worth

Melaine Walker ... "Anything I do I always want to be on top and Rawlinson is the only one that I haven't beaten yet." - AP

With both women eager to prove their worth, Francis remarked "It's going to be an interesting year in the 400m hurdles."

In nine clashes, which started when Rawlinson won the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2000, Walker has lost each time.

However, Walker's Olympic record of 52.64 seconds is substantially faster than Rawlinson's personal best of 53.22.

Francis also pointed out that a switch by Walker would be ill-advised as she stands to benefit financially next season as an Olympic champion.

"It would be a commercial folly for Melaine to even think at the moment to switch from the event in which she is the Olympic-gold medallist," added Francis.