BY GORDON WILLIAMS, Contributor
World record holder Asafa takes time out to sign autographs after blazing 9.95 seconds to win the 100-metre event at Saturday night's Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium. - RICARDO MAKYN
HIS TIME WAS much quicker than the week before, but Asafa Powell was not pleased he had to sweat just a bit more for the results on Saturday night.
"It was a fast race, but I wasn't satisfied with the race itself," said the Jamaican world record holder after clocking 9.95 seconds in the 100 metres at the Jamaica International Invitational track meet at the National Stadium.
"The starter held us very long and guys who don't really start faster than me, they all got out in front of me and that sort of threw me off big time."
At the Penn Relays on April 29 Powell coasted to 10.10, "shutting down" with more than a halfway to go in the race to easily dismantle the field. On Saturday it required sustained power from the beginning, first to catch up to the other runners, then blow by them, which brought on a bit of frustration.
"I had to work a little harder today," he said.
Powell finished ahead of Marc Burns of Trinidad and Tobago (10.22) and Jamaican Ainsley Waugh (10.31). And on a night when Sherone Simpson convincingly beat Veronica Campbell in the 200 metres to end the meet but spark debate over who may now be Jamaica's best female sprinter, following a similar result at the recent Commonwealth Games, he left no doubt which man is in charge of the 100 metres.
Yet Powell said he is still working out the kinks in his race in preparation for the long track season ahead, one which he has already declared he will use to settle talk over who is the best sprinter in the world. Saturday's race did not answer all the questions.
"Actually I don't know what I am capable of doing right now, at this time of the season," he explained.
"As I said, the starter messed me up and I didn't get to run as smooth as I wanted to. Normally I take the race from start to finish and it didn't happen today so I'm not really comfortable with it."
Powell said he hoped to hit top form maybe by the middle of next month and his own world record of 9.77 could be in real danger.
"I'm always gonna challenge my own record," he said.
That could coincide with the next time he faces arch rival Justin Gatlin of the United States, possibly at the Bislett Games on June 2 in Oslo. On Saturday Powell said he did not know if he would race at the Norway meet, although recent published reports confirmed his participation. However, he admitted he had "heard about" his American rival's 9.95 run in the event earlier in the day at a meet in Japan, but claimed that result did not affect his own effort on Saturday.
"I didn't really have it in mind," Powell said.
Maybe later in the season, maybe next month perhaps, when the stakes are higher and a world record is on the line.
Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.
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