Asafa Powell (left) and Sherone Simpson (right)
ROME (Reuters)
WORLD AND Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner became the fourth fastest 400 metres runner in history with a time of 43.62 seconds at the Golden League meeting in Rome yesterday.
Jamaican Asafa Powell came up short in his bid to take sole ownership of the 100 metres world record with a time of 9.85.
The highly anticipated 400 metres duel with young American Xavier Carter, who on Tuesday ran the second quickest 200 metres ever, never materialised when Wariner simply pulled away heading into the final half, to win by more than a second.
"43.6 came a lot sooner than I expected," said Wariner, 22. "I'll keep getting closer to the record."
The world record of 43.18 was set in 1999 by Michael Johnson, who is now Wariner's agent.
Wariner's performance was the seventh fastest of all time.
Powell overcame a sluggish start in the 100 to equal former world record holder Maurice Greene's meet record set in 1999.
HAPPY
"I'm happy with the win even without the record," said Powell, who shares the world mark of 9.77 with American Justin Gatlin. "I had a bad start and my first 30 metres were very slow, but I'm satisfied."
Jamaican Sherone Simpson fought off a late charge by Marion Jones in the women's race to hand the American her first defeat of the season.
Simpson, the fastest woman this year, won in 10.87 ahead of Jones' 10.91, her best of the season.
"Marion is a great competitor and to beat her really, really means a lot," said 21-year-old Simpson, who produced the year's fastest time of 10.82 at last month's Jamaican championships.
Sanya Richards continued her dominance in the women's 400 with a 49.31 victory to remain undefeated in seven contests this season.
Richards' late surge easily outdistanced Jamaican Novlene Williams, who clocked a career best 49.65.
Kenya's Daniel Kipchirchir Komen outsprinted world champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain in the final straight of the 1,500 to win in three minutes 29.02 seconds the fastest time in the world this year.
Ramzi lowered his Asian record to 3:29.14 seconds in a high calibre race in which the top 10 all ran under 3:33.
Ethiopia's world champion Tirunesh Dibaba beat compatriot and world record holder Meseret Defar over 5,000 metres for the second race in a row.
As in Paris last weekend, Dibaba outsprinted Defar to win by more than a second in 14:52.37.
Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele outpaced steeplechase world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen in the men's race to win in 12:51.44.
Amine Laalou of Morocco set the fastest time of the season when he won the 800 metres in 1:43.25.
Wariner, Richards, Powell and Dibaba all remain in the hunt for a slice of the IAAF $1 million jackpot.
Bekele, 100 metres hurdler Susanna Kallur of Sweden, Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic, long jumper Irving Saladino of Panama, and Norwegian javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen all collected their second Golden League victory to remain eligible for a share of a $500,000 jackpot.
The six-meeting Golden League series resumes with the Weltklasse in Zurich on August 18.
