STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CMC) – Asafa Powell’s withdrawal from the IAAF Diamond League meet yesterday has failed to diminish the excitement ahead of the biggest 100 metres race of the season. Olympic and World champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica, and top American sprinter Tyson Gay will meet for the first time this season.
Neither Bolt nor Gay has backed down from the long-awaited clash, and have done their best to inflate the interest in the race by pumping-up their chances.
Bolt admitted he will have to work hard, but he also hoped to avoid further injury to the Achilles tendon, which has troubled him this season.
“It’s definitely a big race,” he said. “I’ve had people in Jamaica saying, ‘You can’t let Tyson beat you!’
“It’s going to be a tough race, but my main aim is to try and avoid getting injured because my injury is better. And hopefully it’s going to hold up.
“This season I’m trying to stay unbeaten, but it’s going to be hard race here.” Bolt added he needed to be focused at the line, or else his reign in the sport could come crashing to an end.
“Last time I raced here I was in better shape, but I’m going to try and execute as best as possible because in these kind of races you can’t really afford to make a mistake,” he said. “Tyson gets off fast, so you have to be focused, you have to be ready.
“For me it’s exciting because last time here I lost, and now people are wondering if I am going to lose again. It’s going to be a good race and I’m looking forward to it.”
On the two previous occasions when Bolt has met Gay over the distance, the sprint king broke the World record – two years ago in New York, where he ran 9.72 seconds, and in last year’s World Championships in Berlin, where he ran the current mark of 9.58 secs.
But Gay has fond memories of running in this city, having beaten Powell last year, clocking a wind-assisted 9.79, and would relish a similar time to push Bolt to the limit.
“I think it will take a (personal best),” he said. “If not, a fast time. I can’t say 9.7 is not a fast time because it is, I can’t say 9.8 isn’t a fast time, because it is. But I know I am going to have to run my best to even be in the video, the camera shots.”
“Last year, it was pretty cool conditions, slightly windy, but not bad at all. If conditions are sunny like they are (on Thursday), that will be perfect.”
Both are disappointed that Powell has dropped out of the race with a back injury, denying fans to see the three fastest men of all-time burn up the track.
Gay said: “It has altered my preparations because this was going to be the World Championships all over again. But it’s still going to be a really great race.”
Bolt commented: “You don’t prepare for one person. When you come to race you prepare for everyone.”
At the same time, a sullen Powell rues missing the clash-of-a-lifetime with two contemporaries, and could give no clear indication when he will be back to full fitness.
“I hurt my back three weeks ago and I’ve been doing some work on it,” said the Jamaican sprinter.
“It’s still not better. It’s kind of weird, but it’s not getting better, and I’m just hoping for the best.
He said: “We’ve been doing a lot of work on it, and hopefully it will be better soon.
“It’s my lower back. I haven’t had any injury like this before. It’s the first time, and I don’t really know how to explain it, but it hurts like hell.”
Powell and Bolt have run the fastest time for the year over the distance, clocking 9.82 in separate meets.
“I made the decision to withdraw (on Wednesday),” he said. “I went back on the track and tried to do some training, and it’s still not coming together.
“Since the start of the year, this is the race for which I’ve been looking out. I’ve been really excited about it, so I’m very disappointed. I wanted to go out here and go against Usain and Tyson, get a feel for it and have some fun.”
Bolt, Powell and Gay are also scheduled to race each other in the 100 at the final Diamond League meet of the year on August 27 in Brussels.
Elsewhere, Jehue Gordon is part of a high-class field in the men’s 400 hurdles, which promises to be one of the most competitive races outside of the men’s 100 dash.
The newly-crowned World junior champion of Trinidad & Tobago hopes to enhance his reputation, after he finished fourth in the World Championships last year.
He is down to face a field filled with champions, with T&T-born two-time World champion Kerron Clement and fellow American Bershawn Jackson the front-runners.
Jackson leads the Diamond League race in the event with 12 points, just two ahead of Clement.
He’s had high-profile victories in Doha, Lausanne (47.62) and Monaco (47.78), as well as the World-leading time this year of 47.32 at the United States national championships in June.
Clement has collected Diamond League victories in Oslo and New York, but faltered in Lausanne, where he reached the line a distant eighth.
Angelo Taylor, the two-time Olympic champion also from the United States, has not won a 400 hurdles race since May 1, but he finished 0.01 behind Jackson in Monaco, and is also expected to make some noise in this race.
Then there is Britain’s David Greene. He arrives on the heels of a 48.12 PB, which took him to the European title last week.
World Championship silver medallist Javier Culson of Puerto Rico, former Olympic and World champion Felix ‘Superman’ Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, American national championships bronze medallist Michael Tinsley, and Jamaican Isa Phillips round out the field.
In other events, Grenada’s Randy Lewis is part of the men’s triple jump, and Dorian Scott is in the men’s shot put.
There are four English-speaking Caribbean entrants in the men’s 400, with the Bahamas’ Andretti Bain and Michael Mathieu, as well as Jamaica’s Danny McFarlane and Oral Thompson.
On the women’s side, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie of the Bahamas is the only English-speaking Caribbean entry in the 200, which will be the marquee women’s sprint event on the programme.
Jamaicans Shericka Williams and Novlene Williams-Mills will start in the 400, while compatriot Vonette Dixon and T&T’s Aleesha Barber will contest the 100 hurdles.
Korene Hinds and Mardrea Hyman of Jamaica will run in the 3 000 steeplechase, St Lucia’s Lavern Spencer is one of the starters for the high jump, T&T’s Rhonda Watkins will long-jump, and compatriot Cleopatra Borel-Brown will put the shot.