Powell ... I want another diamond. - file STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CMC):
Jamaica's 100-metre world record holder Asafa Powell, tuning up for the Osaka World Championship next month, will be the main attraction at next week Tuesday's DN Galan Super Grand Prix meet.
It will be Powell's second appearance at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.
Last year, he collected a one-carat diamond for registering a stadium record 9.86 seconds and has pledged to go even faster a week from now at the 2007 renewal.
"I want another diamond. I am coming back to run another stadium record," he said. "The crowd is fantastic and the track is fast and ranks among the best. The whole atmosphere at the old Olympic Stadium motivates you to do well."
Powell has run three sub-10 second races in 2007, bringing his number of legal times under 10 seconds to 28.
A groin injury forced him out of a few meets earlier this summer but he has declared that he is back on track for his gold medal bid at the World Championship in Osaka, Japan, next month.
"I am definitely on the right track. Due to the injury, (a groin strain), I had to take it easy and skip a few meets. It was frustrating at first, but I have been working very hard and I feel great again," he said.
He will face a cluster of solid opponents at DN Galan including a few from his own Caribbean region - young Bahamian sensation Derrick Atkins, his Jamaican training partner Michael Frater and new Pan Am Games champion Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles.
National record
Nigeria-born Portuguese Francis Obikwelu, Leroy Dixon of the USA and Australian Joshua Ross are also booked.
Atkins is a second cousin of Powell and has the fourth best time this season with 9.95 - a national record he set in Athens earlier this month and meet director Rajne Soderberg is fascinated by the prospects.
"It was all about Asafa Powell last year, but this summer Tyson Gay and Derrick Atkins have done real well," he said.
"They are young and good and it is good for the sport with up and coming talent. I need that kind of competition and the crowd needs it" Soderberg added.
