ATHENS, 15 June 2005 — Jamaica’s Asafa Powell set a 100 metres world record after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds at the Olympic Stadium in Athens yesterday.
On a warm summer’s night on one of the fastest tracks in the world, the 22-year-old beat Tim Montgomery’s previous record of 9.78 set in Paris in September 2002 to become the fastest man ever over the distance.
American Greene’s mark of 9.79 seconds survived for three years until Montgomery beat it at the grand prix final in the French capital.
In front of a sparse crowd in the Greek capital, Powell showed he was in fine form during his semifinal when he clocked 9.98 seconds despite easing up in the last few meters. In the final, he got off to a good start and powered past his opponents to finish three meters ahead of Aziz Zakari from Ghana, who was second in 9.99 seconds and Jamaican Michael Frater, who was third. The wind speed was within the legal limit.
