Jamaica’s Asafa Powell on Tuesday ran the second-fastest ever time in the 100m at a meeting in Lausanne, where Olympic hurdles champion Dayron Robles failed to win.
Three-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt clocked 19.63 seconds in his favorite event, the 200m, for the fourth-fastest time ever.
Powell’s time of 9.72 seconds at this IAAF Super Grand Prix event was 0.03 seconds outside the 9.69-second world mark that compatriot Bolt set at the Beijing Games on Aug. 16.
On that occasion, Bolt had shaven down his original mark of 9.72 seconds set on May 31 in New York.
Powell shot out of the blocks and quickly sped ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix, who timed 9.92 seconds.
Powell, who could only manage fifth in Beijing, said on Monday that he was on form and hoped to beat his personal mark of 9.74 seconds, set on Sept. 7 last year at Rieti in Italy and which at the time was a world record.
Last Sunday Powell had timed 9.87 seconds in rainy conditions at Gateshead in northern England, while on Friday at the IAAF Zurich Golden League meeting in Zurich Bolt won in 9.83 seconds.
“After all the problems I have had this year I am really overwhelmed by this performance. To get a personal best is great,” Powell said.
The US’ David Oliver clocked 13.02 seconds in the 110m hurdles to beat Cuba’s Beijing champion Robles, who managed 13.17.
Oliver, the bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympics, also beat Robles on June 1 in the first leg of the IAAF Golden League in Berlin.
Robles, who had been hoping to improve on his 12.87-second world record, was on target to set a new mark at the race’s midpoint but, as Oliver fought back, he lost his composure and even hit the 10th and final hurdle.
Bolt, the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay winner in Beijing, is still in scintillating form. Though he did not get near his world record of 19.30 seconds set in China, his 19.63 seconds in Lausanne was well under what was once a formidable barrier of 20 seconds.
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