WALNUT, California (AFP) – World record holder Asafa Powell has picked up another injury but he said it won’t affect his preparations for the Olympics.
He strained a pectoral muscle over the weekend, but the chest injury is not expected to seriously affect his Olympic preparations, his manager said.
Powell will run the 100 metres at a meet in Doha on May 9. The 25-year-old Jamaican holds the world record of 9.74 seconds, which he ran in Italy in September.
Powell previously had run 9.77 seconds on three occasions and shared the record with American Olympic champion Justin Gatlin.
Powell announced his Doha race intentions while attending the Mount San Antonio College Relays on Sunday, but he did not race.
He is also considering running the 100m in Oslo on June 6 and plans to train in Italy in June and July to get ready for the Beijing Games.
“Asafa’s injury is not a big deal,” Paul Doyle said. “He had a problem in the weight room and he hurt his chest bench-pressing last week in Jamaica. He can’t reach back to receive the baton His arm is restricted in going back.
“He is fine walking around, but he can’t aggressively drive his arms. He probably could have run today, but it probably would have been a little painful.”
For precautions, Powell had flown to Portland, Oregon, to see a specialist.
“He should be fine for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Saturday and also for Doha.’
Powell is scheduled to run another relay in Philadelphia, then relaunch his 100m season in Doha. He ran 10.04 seconds in Australia in February, way off his world record time.
Powell’s chief rival for the 100m title in Beijing, American world champion Tyson Gay, ran in the California meeting.
“I felt pretty good,” Gay said after anchoring his team to a winning time of 38.51 seconds, the fastest this year.
“Once I got running, my legs were good. I feel really good. Everything went well. It was smooth, back to normal.”
At the same meet, world 100 metre champion Veronica Campbell cruised to victory in the 200m. The Jamaican speedster clocked 22.66 seconds thanks to a favourable tailwind.
Campbell finished just ahead of American Carmelita Jeter (22.86secs) and Torri Edwards (23.03secs) in the first race of the Olympic season. Alyson Felix ran in the relay events.
Related Videos
