Sprinter Xavier James turned in an encouraging performance at a meet in Florida over the weekend when he finished third in the 100 metres while attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games.

James suffered problems taking off from the blocks and the slip quickly saw him trailing the pack, but he recovered to finish strongly in a time of 10.45 seconds ? still well short of the Games standard of 10.28.

However, the 27-year-old sprinter and his new coach, former American Olympian Dennis Mitchell, were encouraged by his run and both still believe he can accomplish his goal in the near future.

?I cruised through the heats to enter the final. But when the gun went off in the final my blocks slipped back and I stumbled. I managed to get back up in my running form and at about 20 metres I was 10 metres behind the pack,? recalled James.

?I didn?t get into my real running mechanics but I persevered and caught them up and I finished third in 10.45. The winner ran 10.35. I knew I could have run a lot faster than him because I knew I could beat him.?

According to James, technically it was a 10.1 second performance had he not slipped at the start.

While there was little to celebrate, James remained upbeat.

?Coach Mitchell and I are going to slam it hard this week at training, we actually trained hard the day before the last race because he wanted me to race on tired legs, indicating he wanted to see where I would be under these conditions. He knows that I have a 10.1 in me and I know it,? he said.

?This was only my second race abroad this year and I ran fine. My confidence is higher already, a 10.1 in fact seems so easy now that I am out here in Florida and training correctly. I know I can do it.?

James will run in the Nike Invitational in Atlanta next weekend.