Posted: June 8, 2005

Athletics: After Cautious Prefontaine Outing, Powell Is "100 Percent" Ready

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

© 2005 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic -- Despite a narrow defeat to Olympic champion Justin Gatlin four days ago, Asafa Powell, this year’s fastest man, doesn’t seem too concerned about how his season is progressing. After all, his outing at last Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., the Jamaican said, was a cautious one after sustaining a minor injury a few weeks earlier.

"No, I wasn’t disappointed to lose," Powell, with his now trademark chuckle, said of the Eugene race, where both he and Gatlin were credited with wind-aided 9.84 performances. "I was just relaxing and going through the motions. In Santo Domingo (14-May) I got hurt running the 200, and at the Prefontaine I just wanted to feel how the groin felt."

Saturday’s loss was only the second for the 22-year-old since the end of the 2003 season; the other also came at the hands of Gatlin, who won the Olympic title while Powell finished fifth. In Eugene, Powell said, "I was 100 percent but I wasn’t going 100 percent. Just feeling out the groin and feeling my strength." Powell confirmed that all is "okay" with the strain, adding, "You can get 100 percent from me now."

Powell, the key attraction at tomorrow evening’s Golden Spike Super Grand Prix, is making his first European start of the season in this sprawling Eastern Czech city of 400,000. Despite a gloomy weather forecast calling for possibly rainy and chilly conditions, he said he’s ready for the first-ever sub-10 clocking on Czech soil.

"I will be the first and will do whatever it takes," he said, joking with reporters today. "I’m going to do it for you guys."

Like many sprinters, Powell exudes confidence, but his is a laidback variety, perhaps more at home in his calm Island setting as it is on the world’s premiere athletics venues. Whether he’s explaining that his coach, Stephen Francis, ordered him not to chase the world record at the Jamaica International in Kingston last month when his 9.84 clocking tied him with Canadians Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin as the third-fastest sprinter ever –"He said not to do that in the first race"—or when sizing up the opposition here –"There’s some good guys here, but I’m not sure they’re going to beat me to [a sub-10]"-- he’s comes across as almost bashful instead of boastful, soft-spoken instead of shameless.

"I’ve always been taught to stay humble, and stay calm and relaxed," he said. "I’m not the type to get caught up in the hype. I don’t want to ever change that."

He’s even hesitant to say how fast he can ultimately go. "I’m not sure," he said, as another wide ear-to-ear grin emerged, "but it’s going to be real fast."

Primary entrants in tomorrow's field include Bernard Williams of the U.S., the Olympic silver medallist in the 200, Nigerian Deji Aliu, and Michael Frater of Jamaica.

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