Athletics: Bragging rights go to Gatlin this time

Gun sprinter Justin Gatlin might have yesterday added the 100m world record to his Olympic and world championship crowns but there is one man who is yet to be convinced the American is the undisputed king of world sprinting.

Former world-record holder Asafa Powell - whose 9.77s Gatlin eclipsed by .01s (9.76s) in Doha yesterday - will not allow Gatlin that title until he has beaten him fair and square next month at Newcastle when the pair are due to meet for the first time in a year.

Powell won this year's Commonwealth Games gold medal without breaking sweat or seemingly, breaking into a sprint, and their rivalry threatens to set the world of athletics on fire - if only they can get on the track at the same time.

They have not raced since last July in London when Powell, fresh from setting the previous world mark of 9.77 a month earlier, pulled up with a groin problem that effectively ended his season.

A frustrated Powell watched Gatlin's 100m victory at the world championships in Helsinki in August from the sidelines.

The American took the title by the largest margin in the history of the championships (0.17) but Powell maintained the outcome would have been different if he had been fit.

"I said to myself, if I would've been in the race I would've won - but I wasn't unfortunately," Powell said at the time.

He is now fit and clocked 9.95s in Kingston, Jamaica last weekend on the same day that Gatlin ran an identical time in Osaka, Japan.

It is not the first time the duo have been virtually inseparable.

Gatlin was given the verdict over Powell in their only full race last year in Oregon, even though both clocked a wind-assisted 9.84.

Their times are not the only thing they share.

Gatlin and Powell are quietly confident about their ability, shunning the swagger and hype that has become associated with sprinters, though Gatlin was in ebullient mood after his 9.76s dash in Doha.

"I am the best of the best because I am the Olympic champion, the world champion and the world record holder now," Gatlin said. "I thought I would do it and I kept my word. I am a man who likes challenges and my acceleration today was phenomenal."

Each will be quietly - or not so quietly - confident of victory in their much-anticipated showdown next month.

Record Times

Recent history of the 100m world record
1991: Leroy Burrell, 9.90s.
1991: Carl Lewis, 9.86s. 1994: Leroy Burell, 9.85
1996: Donovan Bailey, 9.84.
1999: Maurice Green, 9.79.
2002: Tim Montgomery, 9.78
2005: Asafa Powell, 9.77
2006: Justin Gatlin, 9.76

-AGENCIES