Bolt fails to lock out Powell in 100m

STOCKHOLM: Jamaica's 100m former world record holder Asafa Powell beat compatriot and present record-holder Usain Bolt here at the IAAF Grand Prix meeting on Tuesday.

Powell, 25, timed 9.88 seconds to just see off a late challenge by 21-year-old Bolt, who made a dreadful start and trailed his elder rival by 2m after a third of the race.

Whilst Bolt, who timed 9.72 sec to break Powell's record at the end of May in New York, did make up ground on Powell, he never threatened to beat him.

Bolt, who could well attempt the 100/200m double at the Olympics next month in Beijing, had easily won their first-ever confrontation at the national championships in June, timing 9.85 sec to Powell's 9.97 sec, though the latter was returning from injury.

"My objective was simply to win," said Powell, who is the reigning Commonwealth champion but still has to undergo questions about his big-race temperament.

"I got a good start and I managed to maintain my speed to the end."

Bolt, for his part, shrugged off the defeat.

"That doesn't change anything," said Bolt.

"Am I going to do the double in Beijing? It is my coach Glen Mills who will decide," added Bolt for the umpteenth time.

While their duel was the most eagerly anticipated event of the evening, there were other memorable moments.

Ethiopia's women's Olympic 5,000m champion Meseret Defar failed by just under a second to break compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba's world record, recording a time of 14 min 12.32 seconds.

The 24-year-old's time was even more remarkable given she ran the last 3,000m on her own, whereas Dibaba was aided by her sister Ejagayehu in her record-breaking run in Oslo in June.

Sudanese prodigy Abubaker Kaki once again showed he is a real danger to reigning 800m Olympic champion Yury Borzakovsky in Beijing as the 19-year-old recently crowned world junior champion at the distance recorded the fastest time in the world this year over 1000m, though, with the windy conditions he never threatened to break Noah Ngeny's world record.

Another Olympic gold-medal challenger, Cuba's 110m hurdles world record holder Dayron Robles, maintained his impressive set of performances this term by easing home in 12.91sec, well ahead of US champion David Oliver.

The women's long jump also produced a season's best performance from Portugal's Naide Gomes, who produced a best of 7.04m and set herself up nicely for the Olympics, especially as the season's other most impressive performer Ludmila Kolchanova of Russia won't be there having failed to qualify at last weekend's Russian championships.

Gomes also saw off the challenge of home darling Carolina Kluft, who could finish only third on what was a mixed night for the host athletes.

Stefan Holm duly won the high jump while Olympic triple jump champion Christian Olsson made his return to competition after a year out and posted a not unrespectable effort of 17m in finishing third.

However, the 28-year-old's evening turned into a miserable one as he revealed that he had pulled a thigh muscle and would miss the Olympics.

"The Olympics are gone, the whole season is gone," he told Swedish radio, while he also hinted that he may well retire from the sport.

There were signs, though, that some of the best performers this year are starting to feel weary just when it was getting to the business end of the season as Croatia high jumper Blanka Vlasic highlighted.

"I have become a little tired," said Vlasic, who still won with a height of 2.02m.

"I have competed a lot these past few weeks and I need some rest," added Vlasic, who is in line for sharing the Golden League million dollar bonus with just two meets remaining in Zurich and Brussels.

AFP

(China Daily 07/24/2008 page24)