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| May 27, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1427 |
Athletics: Weather may slow Gatlin, Powell
EUGENE (Oregon), May 26: The weather may be the biggest obstacle to fast times when co-world record holders Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell compete in highly publicised but separate 100 metres races at the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday.
Temperatures in the mid-60s F (18 C) and scattered showers are forecast for Sunday, much cooler than the weather American Gatlin and Jamaican Powell typically train in during May.
Organisers set up the separate races to showcase the world's two fastest men without interfering with a showdown British promoters say will take place in Gateshead, England on June 11.
“My goal is to run faster than I did here last year or close to it, but I've never run that fast in cold conditions,” Gatlin said on Thursday.
The races will be the sprinters' first 100 metres since Gatlin equalled Powell's 2005 world record of 9.77 seconds earlier this moth.
Gatlin edged Powell in last year's meeting as both were clocked in a wind-assisted 9.84 seconds.
This time the overall winner will be based on combined times in the two sections with Powell and Gatlin not on the track at the same time.
“My competitive side would love to race (head-to-head in Eugene), but from a business standpoint, I think it is kind of better for us for the future to run somewhere with better weather,” Gatlin said.
Gatlin appeared to take the world record from Powell when he clocked an announced 9.76 seconds at Doha on May 12. But the IAAF reported on May 17 that because of a timing error Gatlin had only equalled – not broken – Powell's record.
The disappointment of losing the record has been replaced by the motivation to run even faster, Gatlin said.
“I've been training to run sub 9.8,” the 24-year-old American said. “That's what I'm working toward, correcting the mistakes of my last race (in Doha).”While Powell held the world record outright until this month, Gatlin has been the dominant sprinter.
Along with the Oregon win, he took a second race from Powell in London last year during which the Jamaican was injured. Gatlin went on to win world titles in the 100 and 200 metres while Powell could only watch.
Powell had originally been scheduled to run the 200 metres in Oregon but decided to switch to the 100 event to avoid possible injury from running the bend.
The controversy over the incorrect timing of Gatlin's Doha race has only heightened interest in seeing the two sprinters in the same meeting if not the same race.—Reuters
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