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Caribbean Athletes For Golden Spike In Ostrava

Top Caribbean Olympic athletes are among those set to blaze the tracks of the 49th Golden Spike in Ostrava on May 27th.

Powell

The latest addition is Jamaica`s former world`s fastest man, Asafa Powell, who will be headlining the 100-m at the Spike.

The former 100-m World record holder and two-time World bronze medalist will be gunning for two marks when he returns to the eastern Czech city: his 9.85 performance set five years ago in cold and rainy conditions, and the wind-aided 9.77 meeting record set last year by World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt.

`So far training is going great, there haven`t been any injuries,` said Powell, who is on the slate for this weekend`s U/Tech meet in Kingston. `We`ve been doing great thing in training. My goals are to run a healthy season and to run faster than I ever have before.`

Powell first broke the 100-m World record in Athens in 2005, clocking 9.77. It was his first outing after his blistering run in Ostrava. After equaling his 9.77 mark twice more in 2006, he broke the record again, clocking 9.74 in 2007. He improved further still to 9.72 in 2008 to currently rank as the third fastest 100-m runner in history.

Organisers have also arranged for an official split time to be recorded at the 100-yard point. The last IAAF World record to be ratified over the distance was the hand-timed 9.0 by Ivory Crockett in 1974 – the auto-timed World best stands at 9.21, set by American Charlie Green in 1967 – a performance well within Powell`s reach. Can he clock under nine seconds?

`I`ll try, We`ll see. I`ve probably done it many times before but it`s never been recorded,` he added.

Simpson

In the women`s 100-m, World indoor 60m silver medalist Laverne Jones-Ferrette of the US Virgin Islands will square off against Jamaican Sherone Simpson, the reigning Olympic silver medalist over the distance.

The pair will be aiming for the meeting record of 11.03 set by Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria during the same cold and rainy 2005 edition. There will also be an official 100-yard split taken in the women`s race.

The women`s 100-m race is named to honor Jan Slanina, a former coach and one of the main meet organizers until his death in 2003.

Other Caribbean athletes set to take part in the Spike are the world`s fastest man, Usain Bolt, who will be making his debut over 300-m and Olympic champion and World record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba, who will race in the 110-m hurdles.

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