--- In asafapowell@yahoogroups.com, "jamaicantrackfan"
<jamaicantrackfan@...> wrote:
>
> Asafa Powell breaks 100m world record
>
> This is the highlight of the year for me. Yes he did not win the
Gold at the Worlds but that will come. He is just 24 and has many
more ahead of him. The Olympic gold is definitely his. He will
mature and become the complete athlete by then. gay should watch
out. he has won the last major title because Asafa is back and here
to stay. I know Asafa will rise to the occassion soon ans silence
his critics.
>
> ROME (AFP) - Jamaican Asafa Powell set a new men's world 100m
record
> of 9.74sec at the IAAF Grand Prix at Rieti, Italy, on Sunday,
beating
> his old mark of 9.77 set in Athens in June 2005.
>
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
>
>
> The 24-year-old Powell had predicted in Stockholm at the beginning
of
> August that he felt he was capable of beating the world record
this
> year.
>
> When asked about his physical limits, he said they were
around "9.74
> or 9.73, even below 9.70."
>
> Powell dominated the race ahead of Norway's Saidy Ndure Jaysuma
> (10.07) and 2003 world champion from St Kitts and Nevis, Kim
Collins
> (10.14).
>
> "After the world championships, where i made several mistakes, I
> worked with my coach so that I could regain my best form. Now I'm
> back!" said Powell on RaiSport.
>
> "I did what I had to do on a very fast and bouncy track. And then
> Italy is my second home," he said.
>
> At the Osaka world championships on August 26, the Jamaican failed
to
> win the 100m title, finishing third in 9.96sec behind Americain
Tyson
> Gay (9.85) and Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas (9.91).
>
> "I was in great shape and ready to go, but I made a huge mistake
in
> the final," he lamented at the time.
>
> Powell set his world-record 9.77 in 2005 and equalled it twice
last
> season on the way to being named male athlete of the year.
>
> He is yet to win a major title after false-starting at the 2003
> worlds, missing 2005 with injury and finishing fifth at the last
> Olympics.
>
> The Jamaican won last year's Commonwealth title but only after
> risking disqualification by veering into a competitor's lane
during
> the semi-finals.
>
> Gay had held till this record-breaking run the fastest time of the
> season of 9.84sec, set on June 22 in Indianapolis.
>