BEIJING, August 16, 2008 (AFP) - World champion Kerron Clement on Saturday predicted an American cleansweep in Monday's 400m hurdles final.

The 23-year-old eased home in his semi-final after team-mates, 2000 Olympic champion Angelo Taylor and 2005 world champion Bershawn Jackson had finished first and second respectively in their semi.

An American 1-2-3 in the final would be the fifth time the sweep has been accomplished.

The four previous occasions were all achieved by Americans - the last time was in 1960 when Glenn Davis won his second successive Olympic title.

'A cleansweep? It's going to happen,' said Clement. 'I just won't tell you in which order.'

Jackson, who went out in the semi-finals of the 2007 world championships, also said that the chances of a cleansweep were high.

'I have only run two bad races in my career and one of them was the Olympic trials final (where he finished second to Clement with Taylor third). We have a chance of a cleansweep, we are a strong team here.'

South African hurdler LJ van Zyl, third in Taylor's semi, admitted that the non-Americans would need to turn in remarkable performances if they were to have any chance of causing a shock.

'We will all have to go under 48sec (his personal best is 48.05sec) or the Americans will kill us,' said the 23-year-old Commonwealth Games and African Games champion.