OSTRAVA, Czech Republic, CMC – For once, Asafa Powell overshadowed his more celebrated compatriot Usain Bolt at the rain-soaked IAAF World Challenge Golden Spike track & field meet on a wet, chilly Thursday night.
Powell clocked a World-leading time of 9.83 seconds in the men’s 100 metres dash to erase three hundredths-of-a-second from the previous best this season set by Bolt in Daegu, South Korea, earlier this month.
“I was disappointed when I saw the rain, but I was happy then when the rain stopped, shortly before the start,” said Powell.
“I’m very satisfied with the time. The weather condition didn’t mean a lot. I feel good, I’m in good shape.”
Bolt also appeared at the meet, but failed in his bid to set a new World record in winning a rarely contested 300 metres, and this allowed the performance of the 27-year-old Powell to capture the headlines.
Over the last two years, he has operated in the shadow of Bolt, whose record-setting in the Olympics in Beijing and the World Championships in Germany, have made him a household name around the World.
Powell is seeking to re-establish his reputation this year, and he took a small step toward this goal, when he got out of the blocks quickly, and ran unchallenged to the line, more than three metres ahead of his nearest rival.
Powell led a Jamaican sweep of the 100, with Lerone Clarke running 10.18 secs, and Dexter Lee a personal best of 10.20 secs.
In victory, Powell also improved the World-best time over 100 yards to 9.07 seconds, after organizers of the meet took the split time at 91.41 metres.
Powell broke the previous best of 9.21 set by Charlie Greene of the United States 43 years ago.
Bolt missed the trick in the 300 by 12 hundredths-of-a-second, after a 20-minute delay for heavy showers.
The Olympic and World 100 and 200m champion clocked 30.97 secs to finish well clear of compatriot Jermaine Gonzales, who clocked 32.49.
Bolt had a strong start, but several puddles on the track, and a strong headwind in the final straight, prevented him from taking away another of Michael Johnson’s World records.
At the Beijing Olympics, Bolt eclipsed Johnson’s 200m World record, but the American 30.85 over 300m was just beyond the Jamaican megastar.
Another victory for Jamaica came in the women’s 100, where women’s Olympic and World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, whose exploits have also gone unnoticed, gained a timely boost of confidence.
Fraser won the 100 comfortably in 11.04, with Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas second in 11.13, and Sherri-Ann Brooks of Jamaica third in 11.17 in a Caribbean clean sweep of the top spots in the women’s 100.
Lavern Spencer of St. Lucia was second in the women’s high jump, where American Chaunte Howard Lowe cleared the bar at 1.98m to win.
Spencer cleared 1.92 to beat Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic in a count-back in an upset of the World indoor and outdoor champion.
Jamaican Delloreen Ennis-London also finished second in the women’s 100 hurdles, four hundredths-of-a-second behind Canadian winner Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, whose 12.69 was her fastest time of the year and the fourth-fastest in the World this season.
Jamaicans Shericka Williams (51.13) and Rosemarie Whyte (51.28) could finish no higher than second and third respectively in the women’s 400 metres, which was won by hometown girl Denisa Rosolova in 50.85.
Isa Phillips of Jamaica was the other English-speaking Caribbean national to make it to the podium, when he finished third in 49.16, behind Trinidad & Tobago-born American Kerron Clement (48.69) and Britain David Greene (49.05) in the men’s 400 hurdles.
