YOKOHAMA (Japan), Oct 1: World 100m record holder Asafa Powell limped out of a 200m race here on Sunday, as his US rival Tyson Gay cruised to a 100m victory with a new resolve to break the Jamaican’s record.

Powell, who set a new 100m world record of 9.74 seconds in Italy earlier this month, appeared strong during the initial seconds of the Yokohama race despite cold rain.

But he stopped suddenly, leaving American sprinter JJ Johnson to take the race with 20.64, followed by Canadian Tyler Christopher and Japanese Hitoshi Saito.

In the women’s field, American 400m sprinter Sanya Richards overwhelmed the competition to win at 50.27sec, compared with second-place Christine Amertil of the Bahamas with 52.32, and Japanese Asami Tanno’s 52.94.—AFP