Powell targets 100m record
2007-09-13 13:20
Brussels - Asafa Powell believes he can break his 100m world record for the second time in less than a week but only if race officials at Friday's Golden League meeting in Brussels do their job properly.
The Jamaican sprinter - who lowered his own 100m world record to 9.74 seconds in Italy on Sunday - blamed the starting official at last year's Van Damme meeting for denying him the chance to set a new record.
After a slow start he won the race in 9.99 seconds.
"I know I can run faster than 9.74, because I sprinted at only about 90%. I just also hope the starter doesn't
give me problems like last year," Powell told reporters ahead of Friday's event.
Organisers in Brussels had hoped to pit Powell and American
world sprint champion Tyson Gay against each other but Gay, who
won gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the
world championships in Osaka, has decided to skip the meeting.
"I fully understand Tyson that he doesn't want to compete right now as he is tired," Powell said.
"But in the future I would like to focus as less as
possible on other athletes, I should focus on my own race. Only
in that way I should be able to get my Olympic gold next year."
Despite the disappointment of not seeing a Powell-Gay
showdown, the 47 000 sell-out crowd can still expect some
excitement in the first of two Golden League meetings in three
days. European athletics' elite series moves to Berlin on
Sunday.
Two athletes - US 400m runner Sanya Richards and
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva - remain in contention
for a share of this season's lucrative jackpot prize.
Richards has had mixed emotions in recent weeks, setting a
world year best of 49.36 seconds at the Golden League in Zurich
and helping her US team to a gold medal in the 4x400m relay in
Osaka.
She failed to qualify for the US team in the individual
400m in Japan and finished fifth in the 200m.
"I was disappointed with Osaka, but not extremely
disappointed. I've been ill this year and I did leave Osaka
with a gold medal," Richards said.
"It was really intense in Zurich, I really wanted to win
that race and stay in the hunt for the jackpot. I was
successful so I'm smiling again."