OSLO, Norway, CMC – Asafa Powell is again heavily favoured to win the men’s 100 metres dash, when the IAAF Diamond League continues today.
The Jamaican sprinter gave one of the memorable performances at the opening IAAF Diamond League meet in Qatar, where he clocked windy 9.75 seconds and 9.81 performances. Powell, the former World 100 record-holder, followed up in the Czech Republic last week Thursday with sprints of 9.88 and 9.83 dashes, the latter against a slight wind in chilly and wet conditions.
With his performance in Ostrava, Powell supplanted compatriot Usain Bolt with the World-leading time this year.
This has sent clear message that Bolt and American Tyson Gay, his other main challenger, will find him a difficult opponent to beat when he faces them later in the season.
Powell has won the 100 in three of the past four years here, and is clearly the man to beat.
Among his challengers is Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles. He has run 10.03 at altitude this year, and has victories in three of his four races this year.
Most recently, Martina, a fourth-place finisher in the 100 at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, won by a full tenth-of-a-second in difficult conditions in the Dutch city of Hengelo.
Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago has been low-key outside of big competitions, but if he could find Olympic silver medal-winning form from two years ago, he will pressure the pace.
Michael Frater, another Jamaica, finished in fourth place in Doha, and will be looking to make it to the podium this time.
Caribbean interest will also be high in the women’s 200, where two veterans will line-up against two rising American stars.
Cydonie Mothersill of the Cayman Islands has shown some form this season in the sprints, finishing third in Doha, as well as second in meets at Daegu and Hengelo.
Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of the Bahamas won the World Championship 200 bronze medal last year, and makes her first start over the distance this season.
The two Caribbean women will however, have their hands full with Americans Carmelita Jeter and LaShauntea Moore.
Jeter has stamped her authority on the women’s 200 this season, and will be looking to make an attack on her 22.47 career-best from 2008. Moore is fresh from a sprint-double in Maringá, Brazil, last Sunday, when she clocked 10.97, the fastest-ever 100 on South American soil, and equalled her 22.46 PB in the 200 this season.
In the women’s 400m, Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica finished third in Doha, and will be one of the featured acts in the field.
Williams-Mills has a 50.32 to her credit this year, and returns to the track for the first time since Doha.
Compatriot Shericka Williams, the World and Olympic silver medallist, began her full-lap season with a distant sixth place showing in Doha, but ran much better a week ago in Ostrava where she finished second.
