Dartford sprinter Adam Gemili is set to take on the fastest man in the world this year when the Diamond League returns to Europe on Thursday night.

The 20-year-old World Junior Champion and London 2012 semi-finalist is included alongside American Justin Gatlin and elite Jamaicans Nesta Carter and Kemar Bailey-Cole on the start list for the 100m at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome.

The former Dartford Boys Grammar School pupil set his fastest time of the season at the Bedford International Games on Saturday, stopping the clock in a time of 10.08secs, his fifth fastest of all-time and the best by a Brit this year.

Gatlin ran the fastest time of 2014 - 9.87secs - when winning the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, last weekend and with good conditions predicted, a fast race is expected.

Gemili's Personal Best remains the 10.05secs he ran to become World Junor Champion in July 2012 but hopes are high he will break the storied 10-second barrier soon.

He said: "I think it’s been in my sights for a while but you don’t want to look specifically at times.

"If you go out to a meet and try and run a certain time and you don’t run it, then you’ll come away quite disappointed. So I’m just looking to go out there and execute my race; I want to start well and finish strongly.”

Gemili has run well inside the British Athletics qualifying times for both this summer's European Championships and Commonwealth Games and finished fifth in the World Championship 200m final in Moscow last summer.