The triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt is to compete in a street race over 150 metres at the Great CityGames in Manchester on Sunday 17 May.
Bolt will race on European soil for the first time this year before tackling other races on the IAAF World Athletics Tour in June and July ahead of the World Championships in Berlin in August.
The appearance of Bolt, who became the first man ever to complete an Olympic sprint double with two world record times in Beijing before anchoring Jamaica to a third in the 4x100m relay, is expected to attract thousands of spectators to Manchester.
British sprinters Mark Lewis-Francis and Simeon Williamson have also confirmed they will compete against the Olympic champion.
The 22-year-old Jamaican, who won his first 100m race of the year last weekend in a wind-assisted 9.93 seconds in Jamaica, will run on a specially constructed tartan track in the city centre.
Bolt said: "I am very excited to compete for my first time in Manchester, my first time in a 150m race and my first time in a street race outside the stadium. I love competing in the UK, it is like my second home as I usually stay in London during the European racing season. When I heard about the idea I thought it would be great fun and something new and exciting."
Bolt, who is eager to sample the atmosphere of racing in a new concept for the sport, added: "Hopefully this event will be the start of many more similar events all over the world and inspire kids to take up athletics."
Bolt said he was also looking forward to taking in a Manchester United match at Old Trafford. "I've wanted to come to a match for a long time and am delighted to get the opportunity," he said.
Meeting organisers Nova International staged a successful series of sprint races on Newcastle and Gateshead's quayside last autumn and believe Bolt's presence will boost their plans to take athletics to the streets. They are already in the planning stages for the Great North CityGames featuring an international street athletics "Ashes" match between England and Australia this September.
Bolt's presence is another notable sporting coup for Manchester, as earlier in the day Ethiopia's world marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie will be bidding to regain his Bupa Great Manchester Run title in a record field of 33,000 runners over 10 kilometres.
Triple Olympic champion  of Jamaica will run in a 150 metre street race in Manchester, England on May 17. The race will be conducted as part of the inaugural "Great Manchester 150." Bolt won gold medals in the ,  and  race in the  held in Beijing, China. He set world records in both the 100- and 200-meter races.

This will be the first time Bolt will be running in Europe. This will also be the first time he will be running a distance of 150 metres. The race will be held on a specially built . This event will be followed by Bolt's participation in the August  in , Germany.

"I am very excited to compete for my first time in Manchester, my first time in a 150 m race and my first time in a street race outside the stadium," Bolt said. "I love competing in the UK, it is like my second home as I usually stay in London during the European racing season. When I heard about the idea I thought it would be great fun and something new and exciting".

According to the tournament organizer David Hart, apart from Usain Bolt, top British sprinters and a few other international athletes are also expected to compete in the 150 metre race.