Asafa Powell capitalised on Usain Bolt’s weak start and edged the world record-holder by one-100th of a second, leading from start to finish in the 100m at the DN Galan meet on Tuesday.
Powell, the former world record-holder, won their highly anticipated rematch in 9,88 seconds. Bolt rallied after his poor start to nearly catch his fellow Jamaican at the finish. Norwegian Jaysuma Saidy Ndure was third in 10,06.
The win was a measure of revenge for Powell, who lost to his close friend at Jamaica’s Olympic trials last month.
”I was really happy with the race,” Powell said. ”My goal was to win. My start was quick and fast. And the speed stayed with me through the finish. I’m really looking forward to the Olympics.”
Bolt set the world record of 9,72 seconds in New York on May 31, breaking Powell’s mark of 9,74.
It was Powell’s third straight win at Olympic Stadium. Last year, he won in 10,04. In 2006, he set the stadium record of 9,86.
”I needed today’s win for my confidence,” Powell said. ”That is most important in order to get really good times.”
Bolt was sombre. ”I’m disappointed,” he said. ”My start was not good enough. That was the key tonight. I was also disturbed by the false start. I could not focus at 100%.”
Earlier, Dayron Robles missed his world 110m record by just 0,04 seconds, winning the race in 12,91. The Cuban, who set the world record last month in Ostrava, Czech Republic, beat four Americans in the race. David Oliver (13,04) and Aries Merritt (13,33) finished second and third.
For setting a new Olympic Stadium record, Robles earned a one-carat diamond worth $10 000.
Robles’s time was the fourth fastest in history, tied with Colin Jackson of Britain. Liu Xiang of China ran a 12,88 and Dominique Arnold of the United States clocked 12,9 in 2006.
Yelena Isinbayeva and Meseret Defar of Ethiopia also set stadium records.
Isinbayeva cleared 4,85m to win the women’s pole vault and her second diamond in Stockholm. The Russian broke her world record in Rome last week with a 5,03m effort. ”It was a good competition, but a little bit too cold when I tried at 4,95,” she said.
Defar missed fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba’s world 5 000m record by 1,45 seconds, winning the race in 14:12,60 for another stadium record. Dibaba set the world record in Oslo, Norway, last month.
Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner won his third straight 400m race, but failed to improve the stadium record he set last year. The American slowed near the finish and crossed in 44,29. It was 0,39 off his meet record that earned him a diamond last year.
Running in nearly perfect conditions, Wariner took the lead early in the one-lap race and was unchallenged the rest of the way. ”I went for victory today,” he said. ”It’s a good winning time. Now I’m going home for tough training before the Olympics.”
Chris Brown of the Bahamas finished second in 44,53 and Ricardo Chambers of Jamaica third in 44,84.
Abubaker Kaki (19), from Sudan, picked up the first diamond of the evening by winning the men’s 1 000m in 2:13.93. He also had his named engraved on a large silver trophy, the Dickson Trophy, that was first contested in a mile race in 1895.
”It was my first 1 000 [outdoors] ever,” Kaki said. ”I tried to beat the world record, but it’s very hard to beat. Still, I’m very happy with my performance.”
Previous winners of the Dickson Trophy include British great Sebastian Coe, the London Olympic 2012 chairperson who saw the race from the stands as a guest of honour; John Walker of New Zealand; Filbert Bayi of Tanzania; and Said Aouita of Morocco.
Saad Youssef Kamel of Bahrain finished second behind Kaki in 2:14,72 and Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia third in 2:15,50.
Craig Mottram of Australia won the men’s 3 000m in 7:37,73, nearly a second ahead of runner-up Isaac Songok of Kenya.
”It was a good race,” Mottram said. ”I didn’t care much about the time. I just arrived from Australia. I was a bit unsure about my shape.”
Juan van Deventer, South Africa’s new middle-distance star who will run in the 1 500m at the Olympic Games, set his first South African record at the meet.
Running in the 3 000m, he came in sixth stopping the clock in 7:41,06, passing the times of two of South Africa’s greatest middle-distance runners, Johan Fourie and Sydney Maree.
The previous record of 7:44,00 belonged to Fourie since 1985, while Maree clocked a 7:43,00 six years earlier (1979) in the US that was never applied for as a South African record.
The tall Van Deventer (23), with two Olympic qualifying times of 3:34,46 and 3:35,20 in Europe recently — as well as a fast one-mile time of 3:51,13 — continues to impress against the world elite.
His time of 3:35,20 was achieved only two nights ago in Heusden, Belgium, and if he can continue in this form, he will almost certainly be in the Beijing 1 500m final.
It was only the third 3 000m of his senior career and he shattered his own personal best of 8:10,18 in 2005 by almost 30 seconds. He stayed with the leading bunch of about 10 runners for most of the race and finished strongly less than four seconds behind Mottram. — Sapa-AP, Sapa