Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
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POWELL
WORLD NUMBER one ranked sprinter Asafa Powell will today make another attempt at the men's 100m record at the Athens Super Grand Prix.
"I want the record very much," Powell was quoted as saying yesterday on the IAAF's website during a training session at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
Powell was a favourite to win the men's 100m title but finished fifth in the Olympic final on this same track last year.
He has been training in the Olympic Stadium since he arrived from his 9.85 seconds clocking in the Czech Republic last Thursday and when asked further about his world record prospects, Powell said:
"I want it very much. The track is very fast and the weather wonderful. I will struggle to get it."
Powell, who will create history by becoming the first Jamaican to hold the number one spot on the IAAF Men's Overall Rankings - when it is released today - is out to break American Tim Montgomery's three-year-old record of 9.78 seconds.
So far this season, Powell, the national record holder, has three sub-10 seconds clockings - 9.84 (twice) and 9.85.
Maurice Greene broke Leroy Burrell's then world record mark of 9.85 by running 9.79 in 1999 at this same stadium. This time (9.79) stands as the second fastest ever clocking in history.
To add to Powell's advantage, Portugal's Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu will be running alongside the Jamaican.
PRESSURE PUSHERS
Britain's best duo, world and European 60m indoor champion Jason Gardener and Mark-Lewis Francis, Ghana's Aziz Zakari, Jamaicans Michael Frater and Patrick Jarrett and Deji Aliu of Nigeria are also expected to exert pressure on Powell.
Britain's Gardener is backing Powell to break the 100m mark.
"Yes. I think a guy who has already run a legal 9.84secs, 9.84secs windy and another 9.85secs, can smash the world record," he was quoted as saying on the BBC website.
Gardener added: "That's a fantastic set of results and you have to remember this is a sprinters' track."
In the female equivalent, Jamaica's Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Sherone Simpson, with a season-best 11.03, is listed to face Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova and the Ukraine's former world champion Zhanna Block. Both Simpson and Lalova have run the third fastest time this season 11.03.
Greece's two European Indoor 60m medallists, Maria Karastamati (bronze) and Georgia Kokloni (silver), will also run.
In the men's High Jump, national record holder and world indoor bronze medallist Germaine Mason faces Sweden's Olympic champion Stefan Holm, who is also a triple World Indoor gold medallist.
Russia's European outdoor champion Yaroslav Rybakov, Olympic bronze medallist, Czech Jaroslav Baba, and the American Jamie Nieto, who was fourth in the Olympic Games, should add to the top class jumping.
The women's triple jump will see Jamaica's world leader Trecia Smith (14.91m), a fourth place finisher at the Olympics, going up against Greek champion Hrysopigi Devetzi, Sudan's Yamile Aldama, the World Indoor Championships silver medallist and fifth place finisher in the Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, with a 12.76 season best, will contest the 100m hurdles in Switzerland.
At the same time, Jamaican quarter-miler Sanjay Ayre secured a win at last weekend's Reebok Grand Prix in New York City.
Ayre defeated unattached Quentin Bowens (46.71) and Tyrone Ross of New York (46.80).
In the women's javelin, Jamaica's Kateema Riettie (54.91m) finished second behind American Kim Kreiner (57.26m).
Meanwhile, 100m hurdler Delloreen Ennis-London (12.60 seconds) ran the fastest time by a Jamaican this season in the obstacle event, but that was only good enough for fourth. Andrea Bliss (12.85) was fifth while Vonette Dixon (12.91) was seventh in the event won by American Michelle Perry (12.45).
