Usain Bolt reveals plans to retire in 2017 - but not before a final swansong at the Olympic Stadium in London

It had been thought the Jamaican sprinter would end his career after the 2016 Olympics

Usain Bolt (GETTY IMAGES)

Usain Bolt has set his sights on a winning swansong at the World Athletics Championships in London in 2017.

The six-time Olympic sprint champion had suggested that the Games in Rio in 2016 would be his last but he now appears to have changed his mind, with a final competitive visit to the stadium where he won three golds in 2012 on the agenda.

"That was the initial plan (to sign off after Rio)," he told the Daily Mail. "But my sponsor has asked me to go on for another year; to 2017 and London.

"But I'll be doing one event, the 100. I've already discussed it with my coach. I can concentrate on that, and on retiring on a winning note."

Bolt will head to this year's World Championships in Beijing looking to add to his haul of eight world golds and the 28-year-old also has one eye on breaking his own world record.

Bolt set the 100 metres record of 9.58 in Berlin in 2009 and is hopeful that elite competition can spur him to his best again.

"Well, it takes races," he said. "But if everything goes well this season... in my life anything is possible. If I can get myself in good shape, it should be wonderful this season.

"I live for competition. I thrive on competition. I live to compete against the best.

"It means a lot when you beat the best. I remember when I won in Beijing, people were saying how Tyson (Gay) wasn't there.

"So for me the World Championship the following year, when everyone was there, that was good."

PA