Asafa Powell outsprints peers to win in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM: Asafa Powell of Jamaica outpaced his opponents at the Diamond League event in Birmingham on Sunday but couldn’t beat the weather conditions as he failed to better his 2011 world leading 9.78.
Asafa Powell. Courtesy: Reuters
Asafa Powell finished with 9.91 seconds to complete his 100 metres which means his record run in Lausanne just 10 days ago is still his best this year.
Powell exhibited his class, although in absence of Gay Tyson, ahead of the next month’s world championships as he warmed up to take on the Olympic and World Champion Usain Bolt.
Powell told media after his winning run, “I was only going to do enough to win today. I didn’t want to push too hard. I was a bit cautious in the final with all the false starts and it was cold out there so I didn’t push it from the start. But it was OK. I’m fine with that. We all want to get the best start but when there’s false starts it puts you in a different zone.”
Asafa Powell. Courtesy: Reuters
Nesta Carter finished second with 9.93 seconds while Michael Frater was the third best sprinter at the Diamond League event with 10.01 seconds.
The damp weather conditions made life difficult for the sprinters but Mo Farah of Britain had no dearth of appreciation from the 12,500 crowd when he won the men’s 500m in great fashion by completing the distance in 13:06.14.
Another British athlete proved his mettle with an outstanding 400m hurdles win in the season’s best time of 48.20. Greene told reporters, “I’m very pleased with a season’s best in horrible conditions and I’m happy – very happy – to get the win. I need to be competitive with these guys and I’m at the top at the moment. I won my first Diamond League of the season in Lausanne and my second this week so it’s given me a lot of momentum.”
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