Powell targets maiden world title
POSTED: 1617 GMT (0017 HKT), April 16, 2007
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WALNUT, California (Reuters) -- A maiden world title rather than
another world record is Asafa Powell's priority this year, according
to the Jamaican sprinter's manager.

Powell, who twice equaled his 100 meters world record of 9.77 seconds
last season, has set his sights on claiming gold at the world
championships in Osaka, Japan.

"It's pretty undeniable right now he's the top sprinter in the
world," Paul Doyle told Reuters after Powell pulled out of his first
race of the year on Sunday because of a knee injury.

"But not having a world championship medal or an Olympic medal makes
him extra hungry. Osaka is definitely his number one goal of the year
but, in addition to that, he just wants to continue doing what he was
doing last year and that's win every race.

"No times as a target. If the world record comes, the world record
comes and that's great. But he really just wants to win every race
that he lines up for in 2007."

Powell, who set the 100 world record in Athens in 2005, was named
IAAF male athlete of the year and Track & Field News magazine's male
athlete of the year for 2006. He tied his record at Gateshead,
England in June and equaled it again in Zurich in a million-dollar
season in which the Jamaican ran under 10 seconds a record 12 times.

Powell, 24, will head to Osaka for the August 25-September 2 world
championships undisputed as the number one men's sprinter, even
though he has never won a world or Olympic medal.

His build-up to Japan is being carefully planned, although the next
few weeks are a little tentative following his withdrawal from the
men's 4 x 100 meters relay at the Hitler Lodge Stadium on Sunday.

Schedule
"We are still working on his schedule," Doyle said. "The plan is for
him to do the Penn Relays in two weeks' time and then, hopefully, we
will be opening up in Kingston, Jamaica on the fifth of May.

"From there, the only one we have definitely figured out is Eugene,
Oregon for the Prefrontal Classic. And then, hopefully, we will come
to a deal with Oslo too. Those are the events we are targeting right
up to the Jamaican championships."

Doyle said Powell would race no more than five times after the
Jamaican championships in his lead-in to Osaka.

"We will probably end up doing just four races with the last one most
likely being Stockholm on the seventh of August which is still a few
weeks away from the worlds," he added. "We will probably get to Japan
on the 1st of August, two weeks before."

Powell's European schedule would also be tweaked, Doyle said. "We are
not going to do exclusively the Golden Leagues this year," he
added. "We are also considering a lot of the super grand prix meets
and maybe even some small meets."