Fri Sep 14, 6:08 PM ET



BRUSSELS (AFP) - Jamaican Asafa Powell remained upbeat after
unfavourable conditions compromised his bid to break his world 100
metres record at the fifth leg of the Golden League meeting here
Friday.

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Powell posted a winning time of 9.84sec to finish ahead of Norwegian
Jaysuma Saidy Ndure and Jamaican Michael Frater, the field racing in
a headwind of 0.3 m/s in temperatures of 17 degrees celsius.

Powell had set a new 100m world record of 9.74sec in Italy last
Sunday and said he could go faster, possibly as fast 9.68sec.

But the combination of a false start, and the unfavourbale conditions
conspired against him.

"I was unsettled by the false start, and the weather really wasn't
very favourable. Given the circumstances 9.84sec is a great time,"
said Powell.

American sprinter Sanya Richards clocked a world's best this year of
49.29secs on her way to victory in the 400 metres and improving her
previous best of 49:36.

"I'm going to have to recover well because Berlin (the last round of
the Golden League) is on Sunday. That won't be easy because the
season has been long," said Richards.

Victories by Richards and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva kept
the pair on course for a share of the Golden League's million dollar
jackpot, for which they will have to compete in the Stuttgart finals
on September 22 and 23.

Isinbayeva is the only other athlete who remains unbeaten in the
Golden League this year.

The Russian won with a modest effort, by her standards, of 4.80m to
defeat her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova.

Other notable performance were the world best time for the year set
by Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele in the 10,000 metres with a time of
26min 46.19 sec.

Bekele, 25, is the current world record holder over this distance
with a time of 26min 17.53sec which he set here two years ago.

Earlier, Ethiopian Meseret Defar set a new world best time for the
two miles event by clocking 8mins 58.58sec.

Defar, the Olympic 5000 metres champion, smashed her previous world
best of 9:10.47, set on May 20 in Carson, the United States.

Kenyan Paul Kipsiele Koech also set a world's best this year, for the
3000m steeplechase in a time of 7min 58.80sec.

The 25-year-old thus bettered his time of 7:59.42, set on August 7 in
Stockholm - an achievement that did not prove sufficient for the
Kenyan federation who did not select him for the world championships
in Osaka, Japan.