OSLO (Reuters):
JOINT 100 METRES world record holder Asafa Powell is one of the favourites for a slice of the US$1 million Golden League Jackpot, which begins its six-meeting series with the Bislett Games today.
The Jamaican, who shares the world mark of 9.77 seconds with American arch rival Justin Gatlin, has agreed to race in each of the six Golden League races.
When Powell will meet world and Olympic champion Gatlin, who equalled his record last month, remains to be seen, although Gatlin's agent Renaldo Nehemiah suggested yesterday it was likely to be next month.
Last year, Gatlin claimed victories in the Rome, Zurich and Brussels legs of the series.
SERIOUS CHALLENGE
World and Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner is also among the series favourites.
After leading a U.S. sweep in the event at the 2004 Olympic Games, the 22-year-old become only the seventh man to dip under the 44-second barrier with his 43.93 victory at the world championships last year.
He has clocked the fastest time in the world this year - an impressive 44.12 in April.
Wariner has said that he wants to seriously challenge the 1999 world record of 43.18 seconds set by Michael Johnson, who is now his manager.
"He believes I can do it," Wariner said.
Ethiopia's world and Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele tops the contenders in the men's distance events.
Bekele, 23, broke his 10,000 world record at the Golden League meeting in Brussels last August, running 26 minutes, 17.53 seconds.
In April, he completed an unprecedented fifth double win at the world cross country championships.
World high jump champion Kajsa Bergqvist is also a solid candidate for the jackpot.
In February, the 29-year-old Swede raised the world indoor record to 2.08m, eclipsing a mark that had stood for nearly 14 years.
Bergqvist missed the 2004 Athens Olympics when she tore her Achilles tendon a month before the Games but came back strongly last year, winning each of her 13 competitions.
