Powell celebrates comeback with win in Rome By James Eve
Fri Jul 13, 5:52 PM ET



World record holder Asafa Powell made an impressive comeback from
injury by winning the 100 meters in 9.90 seconds at a Golden League
meeting on Friday.

Powell, who had not raced an individual 100 since suffering a groin
injury at the Jamaican national championships on June 23, streaked
away from the field in Rome to finish 0.12 seconds ahead of runner-up
Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas.

Powell's time was his best of the season and the second quickest
performance of 2007 behind the 9.84 mark set by Tyson Gay at last
month's U.S. trials.

Afterwards Powell told journalists he could have gone even faster.

"I eased up at the finish. I didn't want to put pressure after the
injury," he said trackside.

"It was frustrating to get the injury when I did -- at the start of
the Golden League, but I'm happy with the way I raced here.

"The clash between me and Tyson Gay in Osaka (at the world
championships) will be one of the showdowns of the year."

Powell's victory was one of a number of impressive track performances
on a warm, still night inside the Olympic Stadium.

The men's 5,000 meters produced the best performance of 2007, with
Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia outsprinting Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge to win
in 13 minutes 1.46 seconds.

FASTEST TIME

World 100 hurdles champion Michelle Perry also set the fastest time
of the year in her event by winning in 12.44 seconds.

The American, who also won in Oslo and Paris, remains in the running
for a share of the $1 million jackpot available to athletes who win
their event at all six Golden League meetings.

"The Golden League hunt is still on," Perry said.

"I'm really excited. I started well, I executed it well in the middle
and I finished strongly."

Another American, Sanya Richards, remained in contention for the
jackpot by winning the 400 in 49.77 seconds.

There was disappointment, however, in the women's pole vault, where
the eagerly awaited duel between Russia's world record holder Yelena
Isinbayeva and the improving Jennifer Stuczynski failed to
materialize after the American pulled out with a back injury.

Isinbayeva underlined her supremacy in the event by clearing 4.90
meters at her first attempt -- 25 centimeters higher than second-
placed Katerina Badurova -- before failing three times at a world
record height of 5.02.

The meeting in the Italian capital also contained a moment of
unwelcome drama when French long jumper Salim Sdiri was taken to
hospital after being hit by a javelin.

Sdiri was crouching in the warm-up area to the left of the landing
area when the wayward javelin, thrown by Finland's Tero Pitkamaki,
hit him in the side.

An ambulance and a medical crew were quickly at the scene. Meeting
organizers later said Sdiri's condition as not serious.