NEW YORK CITY, CMC – Asafa Powell edged out fellow Jamaica Nesta Carter to win the 50 metres dash on a night when Veronica Campbell-Brown and Trinidadian Renny Quow also shone at the USA Track and Field US Open at Madison Square Garden here Saturday.
Competing indoors for the first time in eight years, the 29-year-old Powell was clocked at 5.64 while Carter was just behind in 5.67.
Despite a slight mistake at the start, Powell led from start to finish to claim the marquee event in the meet that was the first in the 2012 IAAF Indoor Permit Series.
“I had a slip in the blocks but as soon as I got out, the race was over,” said Powell.
A chronic under-performer at major championships, the year will be crucial for Powell as he seeks his first ever Olympic medal at the London Olympiad.
Twenty-one year-old Jamaican Kimmari Roach finished fifth in 5.74 seconds while Antiguan Daniel Bailey was last in 5.75 seconds.
Campbell-Brown, the reigning Olympic and World 200 metres champion, joined Powell in winners’ row as she streaked to victory over her field in the women’s equivalent.
The Jamaican touched the tape in 6.08 seconds, beating American Jessica Young (6.20) into second.
“This is a step in the right direction. Now I have to get back to training. Hopefully this is a preview of what is to come,” Campbell-Brown said.
The British Virgin Islands’ Tahesia Harrigan, the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games 100 metres champion, was fourth in 6.25 seconds.
Quarter-miler Quow, meanwhile, also picked up a morale boosting win, impressively claiming the 600-yard run in a time of one minute, 11.20 seconds.
A bronze medallist at the Berlin World Championships three years ago, Quow produced a late surge with half a lap left in the trip that was just under 549 metres, to beat American Bershawn Jackson (1:11.31) into second, with Tabarie Henry of BVI finishing third in 1:11.75.
