Asafa Powell of Jamaica beat Olympic champion Maurice Greene again in the 100m at the Weltklasse Golden League meet on Friday, further establishing himself as a top contender for gold in Athens.
South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete, Dominican hurdler Felix Sanchez, Swedish triple jumper Christian Olsson and Bahamian 400m runner Tonique Williams-Darling also kept alive their bids for the US$1 million Golden League jackpot with their fourth consecutive victories, and two meets left.
PHOTO: AP
Hicham El Guerrouj reconfirmed his participation at the Olympics despite finishing runner-up to Bernard Lagat in the 1,500m for his second loss of the season.
PHOTO: EPA
Powell won in 9.93. Greene was second in 9.94.
"I guess I'm the big favorite for the Olympic Games now," said Powell, who also beat Greene at a meet in London on July 31. "I felt a little pressure from Greene but I'm feeling great because I beat Maurice Greene tonight, and he is one of the fastest men in the world.
"If I stay focused and keep doing what I am doing, I'll get gold for sure."
Powell's time was the fifth-best this season. The Jamaican also holds the second-best time of 9.91 with Greene. American Shawn Crawford has the fastest time this year, a 9.88 at the end of June.
Since winning the US trials in Sacramento, California, last month, Greene has lost three times, to Portuguese sprinter Francis Obikwelu on July 23 in Paris and to Powell twice.
"Of course I'm disappointed," said Greene. "But this doesn't mean anything. Athens is going to be a completely different race.
"Of course I'm going to win [in Athens]. It's coming together but I've got a few things to work out. I think by Athens I should have a lot of them worked out."
While Sanchez, Olsson, Hestrie and Williams-Darling retained their jackpot hopes after four of six Golden League meets, it ended for Lithuania discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna, who was beaten by Hungary's Robert Fazekas by 56cm. Fazekas threw 69.77m.
"Of course I wanted to continue in the jackpot race but I had technical problems today. The Olympics will be my satisfaction," Alekna said.
Sanchez wasn't entirely happy either. He finished only 0.16 ahead of Bershawn Jackson, and another American, James Carter, was third.
"It was a terrible race for me," Sanchez said. "I was close to losing after a mistake in the first part, but I didn't panic and concentrated on making no mistakes after the eighth hurdle. Also, there were two fast finishers ahead of me. But I have a lion's heart and big confidence so in the end I made it."
Olsson triple jumped 17.46m, ahead of American Kenta Bell.
"It was very important for me today to win again," Olsson said. "It is a good thing to go to Athens still being in the jackpot."
Cloete soared 2.04m to equal the season's best high jump by Russian Yelena Slesarenko in June. Blanka Vlasic of Croatia was second with 2.00m.
"My main focus was to jump my season's best around Zurich," Cloete said. "Maybe I can break the world record at the Olympics. Until then I will be working on small things like getting my hips higher over the bar."
The world record is 2.09, set by Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova in 1987.
Williams-Darling defeated Ana Guevara for the second time in a row, after ending the Mexican's two-year winning streak in Rome two months ago.
"It was my last meet before the Olympics and I wanted a clean sheet without losses," Williams-Darling said. "Now I can start to think about the Olympics."
El Guerrouj was leading the 1,500m until the last straight when he suddenly wilted and was overtaken by Lagat, who won with a personal season's best time of 3:27.40. El Guerrouj loped into second place on 3:27.64.
"This is what I have wanted for such a long time: To beat a great man like Hicham," Lagat said. "I did not expect such a fast time, but with 100m to go I was confident to win it.
"It was great preparation for the Olympics. I will be ready in Athens for any race, slow or fast."
El Guerrouj had threatened not to race in Athens after a surprising eighth place in Rome, which ended a 29-race victory streak in the event. The Moroccan attributed that loss to allergies leading to breathing problems and fatigue.
"I ran very well tonight but at the end I was tired," said El Guerrouj, who tightly hugged Lagat in the finish. "Everybody knows I was ill but now I am better and my asthma is under control.
"For Athens, there will be lots of pressure. Lagat is now the favorite on the day. He ran a great race today and I am glad for him. Yet I still want to win the gold in Athens so I will do my maximum as I did today."
World champion Saif Saeed Shaheen of Qatar won the men's 3,000m steeplechase in 8:00.60 but was substantially off Brahim Boulami's world record of 7:55.28 set here in August 2001.
Shaheen had said he was hoping to break the world record to make up for missing the Olympics. Shaheen changed his nationality from Kenyan to Qatari only a year ago. International Olympic Committee rules stipulate that athletes can only compete at the games if they have been holding a nationality for at least two years.
"Yes, it was my Olympics but I'm disappointed with my time," Shaheen said. "I was not able to achieve what I wanted."
American Sandra Glover won the 400m hurdles with the fifth-best time of the season in 53.50. The 2003 world silver medalist beat Ukraine's Tatyana Tereshchuk-Antipova, second in 54.13.
Reigning world champion Jana Pittman of Australia pulled out after injuring her knee during warmups. The injury was diagnosed as a torn outer meniscus and will require arthroscopic surgery, organizers said.
The win was Glover's fourth straight since she finished fourth at the US trials, ending her hopes of competing in Athens.
"Today was my Olympic final and I'm happy with the victory," Glover said. "Everybody wanted me to be depressed and upset because I came in fourth at the US trials but I'm not down. Winning in all four races after the trials, I've shown my strength."
World champion Maria Mutola won the 800m in 1:57.47 for her 12th victory in Zurich.
"When it's Zurich time, all I want to do is to win," Mutola said. "A lot of people expect me to win. It's not easy to win 12 times in 12 years at one track meet."
Mutola has been struggling with hamstring problems and remains unsure if her dream to race the 800m-1,500m double in Athens will be possible.
American Allen Johnson won his fifth 110m hurdles race in Zurich, leading an American sweep of the podium in 13.13, ahead of Terrance Trammell and Duane Ross.
Johnson, who won at the 1996 Games, is hoping to become the first hurdler to take Olympic gold medals eight years apart.
Iberoamerican
AP, Huelva, Spain
Hammer thrower Yipsi Moreno of Cuba won her 19th successive meet with a single hurl at the Iberoamerican Games on Friday.
Moreno, the two-time world champion and undefeated since June 2003, flung the hammer 71.06m in her first throw and that sufficed. Berta Castells of Spain took silver with 64.96m and Jennifer Dahlgren of Argentina was third with 63.72m.
"I felt well throughout the whole competition although I didn't feel that motivated," Moreno said.
"Now my top objective is to win the gold in Athens, although I don't rule out beating the world record in the specialty."
She boasts the third best all-time result with 75.18m she fired in Havana in April.
Spain won five golds while Cuba nabbed four on the first day of the event.
The Cubans stole the show in the men's triple jump, notching up the best four leaps.
Yoandry Betanzos and Yoelvis Luis Quesada were first and second with 17.18m and 17.13m, respectively, but had been ruled out of competition by the Cuban team beforehand to allow teammates a chance to compete.
This allowed Arnie David Giralt to win on a jump of 17.12m. Yoel Garcia was given silver for 16.59m, and Brazilian Jefferson Sabino won bronze with 16.16m.
"I was a little uncomfortable in the first jumps because I slid a little," said Giralt. "But then I started getting better and feeling more at home. It was a difficult victory because the rivals mounted a great opposition from the start."
Betanzos only jumped once in the event and suffered a slight right ankle sprain, but Cuban team officials were unworried.
Cuba's Benavides Virgen won the women's 100m in 11.33, followed by Digna Luz Murillo of Colombia in 11.41 and Brazilian Lucimar de Moura at 11.45.
Brazilian Vicente Lenilson de Lima won the men's 100m with 10.15, and countryman Ande Domingo de Silva garnered silver on 10.21. The Dominican Republic's Juan Sainfleur got bronze for 10.28.
"I felt at home in this championship," said de Lima. "This competition has served as training for the Olympics," where he added that he hoped to get down to 10.10.
Spain's Manuel Martinez won the shot put battle over Chile's Marco Antonio Verni with a 20.59 throw. Verni hit 20.17 for silver while Venezuela's Ronny Jimenez finished third with 18.72.
Portuguese athletes Analia Rosa and Clarisse Cruz won the gold and silver in the women's 3,000m steeplechase, and Spain's Yamilka Gonzalez was third.
Rosa, who led from the start, clocked 9:49.06 while Cruz did 9:55.24.
"I stretched myself at the start because I knew I wasn't going to be so fast in the final meters and I chose to set a strong rhythm so as to distance myself from my rivals," said Rosa, who wasn't close to her Iberoamerican record of 9:43.00.
Spain's Rocio Florido won the 10km walk in 44 minutes, 22 seconds, setting a championship record. Portugal's Ana Cabecinha was second in 44:33.75 and Spain's Carolina Jimenez took bronze with 44:43.58.
Cubans took gold and silver in the men's javelin with Isbel Luaces throwing 77.98m and Emeterio Gonzalez firing 76.34m. Colombia's Noraldo Palacios was third with 76.00m.
Cuban-born Spaniard Niurka Montalvo made 6.58 meters to beat former compatriot Yudelkis Fernandez in the long jump by 13cm. Spain's Concha Montaner got bronze with 6.40.
Naroa Agirre, of Spain, pole vaulted 4.30m to take gold, while Argentina's Alejandra Garcia had to settle for silver on jumping the same height but missing twice at 4.20m.
The three-day meet is at the new 6,000-seat Iberoamerican Athletics Stadium. The games have been held every two years since 1983.
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