Former world record holder Asafa Powell hopes to take a big step in his recovery from an ankle injury when he competes against a strong 100m field in today’s Prefontaine Classic grand prix athletics meeting.
“He was able to train on it this week without any problem, so I don’t expect him to be too far off the Asafa Powell we are used to seeing,” Powell’s agent, Paul Doyle, said in an interview on Friday.
The 26-year-old Jamaican sprinter was far from that in last weekend’s New York grand prix, coming home an uncharacteristic seventh in 10.10 seconds.
“I would expect a couple of tenths improvement on Sunday,” Doyle said. “He is going to come back with a vengeance and really wants to win this race.”
ANKLE
Powell twisted his ankle while training in April and was unable to work at full strength for about seven weeks, his agent said. He aggravated the injury during the Penn Relays.
“We were not so concerned about the result [at New York],” Doyle said. “The important thing was that he finished injury-free. He did and I think we are going to see nothing but big improvements every time now.”
Powell finished a disappointing fifth at last August’s Beijing Olympics while compatriot Usain Bolt set a new world record of 9.69 sconds.
MEDALISTS
The Olympic 100m silver and bronze medalists — Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago and American Walter Dix — will be competing against Powell today at the Oregon meeting, as will Beijing fourth-place finisher Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles. Martina has the year’s fastest time on a regulation track of 9.97 seconds.
Almost a dozen Beijing Olympics champions are expected for the meet with fast fields and tough duels projected across the board.
The entire cast of Beijing medalists in the men’s 400m hurdles, men’s high jump and men’s shot put will compete. The men’s mile, steeplechase and 3,000m will also feature strong competition.
Among the women, Jamaica’s gold and silver medalists, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart, will renew their rivalry over 100m, and in the 800m, Kenyans Pamela Jelimo and Janeth Jepkosgei, the Olympic gold and silver medalists, will clash again.
For variety, US Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt will contest the rarely-run 300m.
“It is going to test my speed, it is going to test my strength, but not too much of my endurance because it is not the whole 400,” Merritt said.
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