Jamaica’s Asafa Powell continued his flying form by winning the 100m at Rome’s Diamond League meeting in a world-leading time of 9.82 seconds on Thursday despite a dreadful start.
Powell had a reaction time of 0.214 seconds out of the blocks, which he told reporters was “the slowest I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
However, that did not stop him from bettering his year’s best of 9.83 seconds. The 27-year-old did run 9.72 seconds in Oslo last week, but the wind was above the legal limit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre was second in 10.09 seconds, with his compatriot Martial Mbandjock third in the same time.
Powell knows he will have to do even better to challenge Jamaica’s world record holder Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay of the US, who both have minor injuries at the moment, but he was confident he is up to the task.
“It was a pretty good race,” the sprinter said. “The only problem was I got a very poor start. I’m happy with how I did in the last part of the race.”
“I’m a 100 percent sure I can go a lot faster. I’m just waiting. I haven’t started my speed work yet [in training],” he said, adding that he had gained power after purposely losing 5kg in weight.
The Rome crowd’s hopes of seeing Jamaica’s Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser serve up a similar display were dashed when she became the second athlete to be disqualified for a false start in the women’s 100m, won by Lashauntea Moore of the US.
Croatia’s world champion Blanka Vlasic and Chaunte Lowe of the US did put on quite a show in the women’s high jump.
Vlasic won the event for her third victory out of four Diamond League meetings so far, beating Lowe on count-back after both athletes jumped 2.03m before they wrapped things up by doing a groovy dance together at the edge of the track.
Jeremy Wariner continued his pursuit for form in the 400m after losing his world and Olympic titles to fellow American LaShawn Merritt and suffering knee problems.
He clinched his race in 44.73 seconds, the fastest time of the year, with fellow American Angelo Taylor, twice Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles, 0.01 seconds behind.
“I’m happy with my race. I executed well, especially at the end of the race,” Wariner said. “I know now that I just have to stay focused and keep running.”
Lashinda Demus of the US also clocked the fastest time this year to win the women’s 400m hurdles in 52.82 seconds.
Cuba’s Olympic champion and world record holder Dayron Robles cruised to victory in the 110m hurdles in his first Diamond League meeting of the season.
The Czech Republic’s Barbora Spotakova had an easy time in the women’s javelin, although her winning throw of 68.66m was over 3m short of her 2008 world record.
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