Asafa Powell ran the third fastest 100m of the year, and it came after two false starts and battling a headwind.
Running into a 0.3m per second headwind on Saturday, the Jamaican got to within .09 seconds of his world record, winning the 100m at the World Athletics final in 9.83 seconds.
In the absence of world champion Tyson Gay, Powell stayed calm as false starts frazzled the opposition. And once out of the blocks, he blew away his opponents.
PHOTO : AFP
Jaysuma Saidy Ndure of Norway was second behind Powell in 10.06, and Michael Frater of Jamaica was third in 10.11.
Olusoji Fasuba of Nigeria was disqualified for a second false start on an afternoon when the starting gun caused major problems in all the sprint races.
Hopes were raised for a world record on Saturday, but Powell, world pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and high jumper Blanka Vlasic all failed.
Isinbayeva and Monika Pyrek of Poland were tied for first after clearing 4.82m. Both then missed three times at a higher height, and could not be divided on a countback, so it went to a jumpoff. The Russian, always at her best under pressure, cleared 4.87 on her first attempt. Pyrek who already set a personal best to get into the jumpoff, failed.
Vlasic won her 17th of 18 competitions this year and again, no one came close. The world champion was the only one to clear 2m but failed three times at 2.05, still 4 cm under the world record height.
The Women's 200m only got off on the fifth attempt, after countless protests and jeers from the 22,000 crowd at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium. The surprise winner was Muriel Hurtis-Houairi of France in 22.73, ahead of Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of the Bahamas.
The Women's 100m hurdles also was a festival of false starts and three disqualifications. Once the race started at the fourth attempt, Michelle Perry won for the first time since the final at the world championships. With a time of 12.68 seconds, she beat Josephine Onyia of Spain by .02 seconds.
The Men's 400m hurdles had all the big stars from the world championships in Osaka, Japan, lining up -- including the last two Olympic and world champions. Reigning world champion Kerron Clement was poised for one of his late rushes but he stuttered again at the last hurdle and failed to dip at the line. Marek Plawgo of Poland held on for a good win as both were timed at 48.35. In an extremely tight race, James Carter finished .01 seconds back.
In the absence Jeremy Wariner, LaShawn Merritt proved again that he is the second best in the world in the Men's 400m. After silver in Osaka, Merritt won in 44.58, with Tyler Christopher of Canada second in 44.87.
World champion Tatyana Lebedeva won the long jump with a leap of 6.78m, 14cm more than second-placed Grace Upshaw.
World champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia held off double Olympic champion Virgilius Alekna in the discus, throwing 66.54m for an edge of .60m over Alekna.
The US shot putters staged a repeat of the world championships, with Reese Hoffa throwing 20.98m to beat Adam Nelson by just 3cm.
In the triple jump, Walter Davis won with 17.35m jump, 1cm more than Aarik Wilson.
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