By Gary Smith, World-Track
EUGENE, Oregon — Former world record holder Asafa Powell says he only gave enough effort to test himself during a 100-metres race at the Prefontaine Classic IAAF Grand Prix meeting on Sunday.
Powell, who is recovering well from an ankle injury he sustained earlier this season finished behind American Mike Rogers in 10.07 seconds, and he was encouraged by the performance.
"I was a lot more confident (in today’s race)," said Powell. "But I didn’t really try to push it."
Powell, known famously for his rocket starts and dynamic drive phase in the developing stages of his race, was caught looking around leading up to the finish, and he admits to just taking things easy.
"I came out of the blocks slow and pretty much just continue pretty slow towards to the end," the 26-year-old said, making note that this was his final race before he competes at the Jamaica Championships at the end of this month.
Although he has been slowed down for several weeks by the nagging ankle injury, the Olympic relay gold medallist does not believe he needs to do any drastic before the trials.
"I don’t think I need to work on anything but my ankle to get it right and pain free so that’s the aim right now.
"I am not worried. Base on how I ran today (Sunday), I am 80-percent. I feel like my normal self in my upper body, so I’m quite happy," he added.
Powell, the bronze medallist from the Osaka World Championships two-years-ago only needs to place in the top three to book his spot on the Jamaican team to the Berlin championships.
And based on current form, even with the injury he is nursing, the sprint ace is favoured to join world record holder Usain Bolt on the 100m team.
