Golden day for Powell
ByReuters
Published 03/09/2006 at 14:13 GMT
Asafa Powell, Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards share the Golden League main jackpot after completing a sixth straight victory in their respective events in Berlin on Sunday.
ATHLETICS 2006 Rome Golden League Powell
Image credit: dpa
Sprint king Powell (JAM) ran 9.86 seconds in cold, damp conditions in the 100 metres, finishing ahead of American Tyson Gay.
Wariner (USA), the 400m world and Olympic champion, had little trouble matching that record in front of a 48 000 crowd at the Olympiastadion, scene of soccer's World Cup final in July.
The American ran a typical untroubled race on the blue track, coming home in 44.26 seconds and holding off a late surge from Congolese Gary Kikaya.
Richards became the third athlete with a faultless GL season record when she won the women's 400 in 49.81 seconds, putting her just over a second ahead of fellow American Dee Dee Trotter.
SPOILS SHARED
Each member of the trio will receive nearly 200 000 euros for the achievement, provided they appear at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart next weekend.
In addition they will be given a further 65 000 each from the secondary jackpot for those winning five GL events out of the six.
Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, who was also in line for a slice of the major jackpot, was edged out by world record holder and compatriot Meseret Defar in a thrilling finish to the women's 5000m.
Dibaba held a slight lead going down the final straight but a devastating late kick form Defar saw her take the lead inside the final 10m.
Two other athletes clinched shares of that part of the pot when they recorded their fifth victories on Sunday.
Irving Saladino of Panama claimed his prize in the long jump with a first round leap of 8.35m.
Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia ran a solo race for his fifth win in the 5000m. His time of 12:57.74 took him to victory by over seven seconds from his brother Tariku Bekele.
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