Usain Bolt has begun training in earnest for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and sent out a stark warning to his rivals – he aims to go under the 19-second mark in the 200m.

The six-time Olympic champion had already stated his intention to break his 200m world record in an exclusive interview with rio2016.com earlier this year, but now he has revealed the depth of his ambition.

The Jamaican, who will be competing in his last Olympic Games next year, set the current 200m world record of 19.19 seconds at the 2009 athletics world championships, four days after he set the 100m record of 9.58 seconds at the same event.

“I really want to run under 19 seconds,” Bolt said from his training base at the University of West Indies in Kingston as he began his preparations for Rio. “It’s one of my major goals.

“I think it’s one of the toughest ones, because it’s going to be hard to find the right day and sometime the perfect race to get this (the 200m record).

“It will not be an easy task, but I personally feel I can do it and my coach (Glen Mills) thinks I can do it, so it is just about the work and finding the perfect time to do it, so it is one of the things (for 2016).”

Bolt is seeking to become the first man to win a ‘triple-triple’ – three successive Olympic titles in the two sprint events and the 4x100m relay.

He overcame a pelvic injury to win three golds at the world championships in Beijing in August, which included ending American Justin Gatlin’s almost two-year unbeaten run in the 100m and 200m.

Gatlin has said he feels he is closing the gap on Bolt, having only lost the 100m final in Beijing by 0.01 seconds, although Bolt won the 200m more comfortably.

“Justin Gatlin says he’s coming, but for me, I’m much more focused,” Bolt said. “I’m starting the season in much better shape than I did the last one, so it is only forward from here.”