Powell faces crack field
published: Saturday | June 4, 2005

Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

JAMAICA'S WORLD leading 100m sprinter, Asafa Powell, is listed to faceoff against a crack line-up that includes Olympic champion, Justin Gatlin, at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon today.

Powell will not only meet Gatlin, but the American's countryman, Olympic 200m champion and silver medallist in the 100m, Shawn Carwford, world record-holder, Tim Montgomery of the United States and world champion, Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis.

OTHER RUNNERS

Also included in what is the biggest 100m field lined up since the start of the 2005 outdoor season are world junior 100m record-holder and World Championships silver medallist Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago, the joint second fastest man this season, Leonard Scott of the United States, and fellow Jamaican and MVP clubmate, Michael Frater, who is the NCAA silver medallist.

Powell pulled up in his last race after feeling cramps while running on a wet evening at the Felix Sanchez Invitational track meet in Santo Domingo last month and though confirmed to run, will undergo a fitness test as a precautionary measure.

The Jamaican sprint ace clocked an amazing 9.84 seconds while easing in one of his earliest meetings outdoors this season at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 7.

Since that performance, he has talked about breaking Montgomery's 9.78-second world mark. Powell has ran several other sub-10 clockings and now faces the field that could push him to establish a new standard today.

Besides the men's race, the women's 100m sprint is expected to be hot with Jamaica's Athens relay gold medallists, Sherone Simpson, Aleen Bailey and Tayna Lawrence lining up against Olympic gold medallist, Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus, who will be competing for the first time in almost a year.

FIRST-EVER APPEARANCE

Since her blazing performances in Athens with four sub-11 seconds clockings - 10.94, 10.99, 10.92 and 10.93 - Nesterenko will make her first-ever appearance in the United States, where she will also face top American sprinter and Olympic Games silver medallist, Lauryn Williams, whose personal best is 10.96 seconds.

The United States' Inger Miller, LaTasha Colander and Muna Lee are also in the field.

Two Jamaican hurdlers are also part of a superb match-up in the women's 100m event, with Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Lacena Golding-Clarke going up against Olympic champion, Joanna Hayes, world champion Perdita Felicien of Canada and American, Melissa Morrison.

Elva Goulbourne will contest the women's long jump, while Kenia Sinclair runs in the 800m along with three-time world champion, Maria Mutola of Mozambique, Americans, Hazel Clark, Alice Schmidt, and Kemiesha Bennett, and Marian Burnett of Guyana.

The men's 400m field will see two Jamaicans, Sanjay Ayre, and Michael Blackwood, and national champion Brandon Simpson going up against Americans Derrick Brew, rising star LaShawn Merritt, Andrew Rock and Tyree Washington.

Olympic 400m hurdles champion Felix Sanchez of Dominican Republic will clash with Jamaica's silver medallist, Danny McFarlane and Americans, James Carter, Joey Woody and Bershawn Jackson.