Jamaica’s former world record holder Asafa Powell emerged winner of the IAAF World Challenge 100-metre race at the Stadion SRC Mladost, Zagreb, Croatia today (September 6).
Powell clocked 10.01 secs and narrowly missed out on his 98th career “Sub-10 Secs” timing. He finished ahead of Great Britain’s duo of A who returned 10.06 and 10.10 secs respectively.
The speedy Jamaican has been in terrific sprinting form during and after the Rio Olympics where he paraded his remarkable sprinting prowess by being an integral member of the Jamaican sprint relay quartet which helped legendary Usain Bolt win his ninth Olympics sprint gold.
Apart from Powell (starter) and Bolt who anchored the relay, the other members of the gold-medal winning team were Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade whose great chemistry and slick baton passing ensured that Bolt embellished his Olympic legacy with the “Olympics Triple Treble” of wins in the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay at three consecutive Games in 2008 (Beijing), 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio).
The 4×100 relay “Golden Quartet” registered their season’s best of 37.27 secs.
After the Rio Olympics, Powell continued his impressive form and displayed his world class sprinting ability with consecutive victories at the IAAF Diamond League 100-metre races in Lausanne on August 25 and Zurich on September 1.
The powerfully-built sprinter, who will celebrate his 34th birthday on November 23; registered his 96th Sub-10 when he won the Lausanne dash in 9.96 secs (0.5 m/s) and 97th with 9.94 (0.4 m/s) timing at Zurich.
Incidentally, the IAAF World Challenge Meet record for the Zagreb venue is currently held by Jamaica’s legendary Usain St Leo Bolt who clocked 9.85 secs (+0.1 m/s) on September 11, 2011.
Bolt’s meet record remains intact while Powell will continue his quest for the historic “Century Sub-10”.
