World 100 metres champion Kelli White refused to compare herself to Marion Jones, the last American to hold the title, after clinching her first major track gold on Sunday.
White won the final in 10.85 seconds -- the fastest time in the world this year -- ahead of team mate Torri Edwards and defending champion Zhanna Block of Ukraine.
But inevitably the 26-year-old faced questions about 1999 world champion Jones, who is not competing in Paris after giving birth to a son in June.
"A lot of people are asking about her," White told reporters. "She's a great athlete, she's achieved so much.
"This is my first year and I have to repeat these things. She's achieved a lot over several years and I have a lot more to do to be on that level."
Jones has won three Olympic and three world championship golds in her career and White said she would be looking at her compatriot for guidance when she returned from maternity leave.
"I have years to go and a lot more growing and learning to do to be where she is," the 26-year-old said.
"I have to look at her as a mentor and someone else that I can look up to, not so much as a competitor and taking her down. It's more of learning from her and what she has done."
White, U.S. champion at 100 and 200 metres, also plans to run the longer distance in Paris.
Victory would give her the title Jones won two years ago in Edmonton and a world sprint double -- something that even her prospective mentor has never achieved.
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