Sport

Warning: High speeds in Stockholm

July 29, 2010 Edition 1

STOCKHOLM: Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt and top sprint rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will meet for the first time this year in a 100m showdown at the DN Galan meeting at Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium next week.

The clash in the Diamond League series on August 6 will be the first featuring Jamaicans Bolt and Powell and American Gay since they claimed gold, bronze and silver respectively at the 2009 IAAF world championships in Berlin, Germany.

It will match the three fastest men of all time, with Bolt the world-record holder at 9.58sec, followed by Gay (9.69) and Powell (9.72).

“The last time Usain ran in Stockholm, Asafa beat him just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” meeting director Rajne Soderberg said yesterday. “I think it is the only (100) race he has lost in his (professional) career, so he probably wants to come back for revenge.”

Bolt has beaten Gay in both of their 100m races, and he has an 8-1 edge over Powell, the loss coming in the Swedish capital in 2008.

Weeks later, the 1.95m Bolt set world records in the 100m and 200m and helped Jamaica eclipse the 4x100 record at the Beijing Games. He went on to break both sprint records at last year’s world championships.

Powell and Gay had already been scheduled to take part in the meeting, and negotiations to include Bolt began several weeks ago, Soderberg said.

“He had missed a couple of races (due to injury) and did not want to run more 200s, so it is a great honour to have him. This will increase interest in the meeting for the future and (talk of the race) will linger on for years.”

The three also will meet in the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium, on August 27. – Reuters