PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2006 - World record holder Asafa Powell cruised to victory in the 100 metres at the Penn Relays athletics meet on Saturday, winning in a time of 10.10 seconds.
The Jamaican speedster easily beat Rodney Martin (10.24) who just edged out Anthony Buchanan (10.25) for second place at the Franklin Field track.
Im getting there. I'm almost there. I need a few more competitions,'' said Powell, who ran a 10.03 earlier this year. Powell was a late addition to the meet as organizers didn't confirm his participation until Friday. He decided not to run in the USA v The World series of relays that draw most of the big international names at this meeting.
The track is different here,’’ he said. I didnt want to open myself up to injury by running a relay. Asked if he hopes to race against Olympic gold medallist Justin Gatlin soon, Powell said:
A lot of people would like to see me and Justin go up against each other.’’
Powell earned the world’s fastest man title last year in Athens when he broke the 100m record with a time of 9.77. He finished fifth at the 2004 Olympics which was won by Gatlin.
Last month, Powell won the gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
In the USA v The World series, Kenya spoiled ex-Kenyan Bernard Legat’s first race in a USA jersey as they edged the Americans in the men’s distance medley relay.
In the event featuring legs of 1,200m, 400m, 800m and 1,600m, Khadevis Robinson put the Amerians in front on the penultimate leg, and Legat held off Kenya’s Alex Kipchirchir until the closing meters of the anchor leg, when the Commonwealth Games gold medallist surged past to seal the win for Kenya in 9:15.56.
The United States were second in 9:15.63 - also inside the previous best time ever in the event.
He was on my back the whole way, so I was kind of his pacemaker and that worked to his advantage,'' said Legat, a naturalized American who was a two-time Olympic medallist for Kenya.
The last 100, I thought I had it. He kicked passed me. He just caught me at the end.’’
The United States went into the men’s 4x400m relay seeking to avenge their loss to Jamaica last year, and the USA Red squad of Tyree Washington, Derrick Brew, Otis Harris and Wallace Spearmon delivered the win in 3:00.09.
The USA Blue squad of LaShawn Merritt, Andrew Rock, Kerron Clement and Darold Williamson were second in 3:00.13, with a World All-Stars team including American Jamal Ashley, Congo’s Gary Kikaya, Dominican Felix Sanchez and Alleyne Francique of Grenada third.
The United States swept the top three places in the men’s 4x100m, but not before a spell of confusion as to the order.
The USA Blue lineup of Tyson Gay, Leonard Scott, Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin cruised to a win in their heat in 38.33, but were disqualified for a handover violation that made USA White, winners of the previous heat in 38.72, atop the podium.
But on appeal, the disqualification was overturned and USA Blue reinstated.
American women triumphed in all three of their USA v The World Relays, 100m world champion Lauryn Williams and world championships 200m runner-up Rachel Boone-Smith running on the winning squads in both the 4x100m and the sprint medley relay.
Williams anchored a 4x100m squad that also included Boone-Smith, Muna Lee and LaTasha Colander to victory in 42.81. They were well ahead of USA Red (43.38).
The USA Blue squad of Lashinda Demus, Monique Hennagan, Monique Henderson and Sanya Richards won the 4x400m in 3:23.51, with Jamaica second in 3:26.85.
hmm, did asafa take it easy?
APPARENTLY YES, Read to last par . . .
New York newspaper report (Times?)
PHILADELPHIA, April 29 - The United States usually has the fastest men’s 4x100-meter relay teams in the world. But when a big race comes up - in the Olympics, the world championships or the Penn Relays - something bad often happens.
It happened Saturday, at least for a while, on the last day of the 112th Penn Relays. The top United States team won in 38.33 seconds, then lost, then won, all in the same race. At first, the Americans were disqualified when the officials ruled they had passed the baton beyond a 20-meter passing zone. An hour later, the jury of appeals reinstated them.
The race was part of USA vs. the World, matching United States teams in six relays against national or all-star teams from 17 other nations.
In the 4x100, USA Blue, the strongest of the three American teams, had Tyson Gay, Leonard Scott, Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin, running in that order. They own Olympic gold medals and world championships to spare.
But 4x100 teams need precise baton passing in clearly defined zones. Here, USA Blue was disqualified because Scott was thought to have passed the baton to Crawford beyond the zone. The two other American teams moved up to first and second, but USA Blue had seemingly written another chapter in United States relay woes.
“I really don’t know what happened,” Scott said. “I thought I gave it to him in the zone. I said ‘stick,’ and he was able to hear me, but it was so loud out there.”
There were 49,771 spectators at Franklin Field, many of them Jamaicans screaming for their runners amid chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A!” Crawford said the noisy crowd, the wind and a miscalculation did him in. “Leonard told me beforehand that he had an excessively hard wind in his face,” Crawford said. “I forgot to consider that. He did everything in his power to get me the stick.”
After viewing tapes, the four-man jury of appeals said the baton pass was legal, that Crawford had received the baton within the passing zone and that his recovery foot was in the air when he took it.
When Crawford’s team was reinstated, he said he was confused.
“I feel like getting out of here before I hear more bad news,” he said.
United States teams won five of the six USA vs. the World races. Kenya won the distance medley in 9 minutes 15.56 seconds, seven-hundredths of a second ahead of the USA Blue team, when Alex Kipchirchir caught Bernard Lagat, a Kenyan-born American, at the tape. The USA Blue team of Rachelle Boone-Smith, Lauryn Williams, Monica Hargrove and Hazel Clark won the women’s sprint medley in 3:37.16, a record for this event.
Gatlin is the Olympic and world champion in the 100 meters. Asafa Powell of Jamaica is the world-record holder. Powell was entered in the open 100 and not in the relay against Gatlin, who was asked if he planned to watch Powell’s race. “I’m going out to watch the rest of the meet,” Gatlin said with a sly smile. “If he runs, I’ll watch him.”
Powell ran impressively, winning in 10.10 after easing up in the last 40 meters.