Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Asafa Powell - reuters

The world's fastest man, Asafa Powell, along with members of the MVP Track Club, returned to the island yesterday from a successful European season.

Also arriving home yesterday were World Championships 100m hurdles silver and bronze medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Commonwealth Games 200m champion Sherone Simpson and head coach Stephen Francis. They were greeted at the Norman Manley International Airport by Dr. Alfred Sangster, past president of University of Technology (UTech), and students from the school.

Head coach Francis said their success this season was due to hard work.

"It reflected the work that we put in the athletes, management staff, administration, everybody, and we are happy," he said.

It was a season where Powell equalled his world record 9.77 twice.

Simpson ended the year as the world's fastest female sprinter after running 10.82 for the 100m and 22.00 for the 200m, while Foster-Hylton ran close (12.46) to her national record.

Kaliese Spencer was also brilliant, breaking the national junior 400m hurdles record twice and getting gold at the World Junior Championships in China.

"Everybody performed well, Brigitte, Asafa, Sherone, Kaliese, Shericka Williams, it was a good year," he said.

Francis said there were some disappointments.

"We had some injuries, which was disappointing for some of the other guys we had expected to come forward," he said. Sprinters Michael Frater and Ainsley Waugh were two of the athletes who had injury problems in Europe.