Pacy Powell now the fastest of all time

Powell finished only third in the 100 metres at the World Championships in Osaka two weeks ago but, in an IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Rieti, Italy, he improved the record he held already by 0.03 seconds to 9.74sec.

"It is a very fast record now. It is to remind my friends that Asafa is still here," he said.

Powell had still technically shared the record of 9.77 with Justin Gatlin but Gatlin's performance may soon be erased from the records anyway if his appeal against his ban for doping fails.

Yesterday put Powell's ownership of the title of world's fastest human beyond question.

Diego Sampaolo, the IAAF correspondent at the meeting, said: "What made Powell's feat more sensational was the fact that he made the time in the heats easing up in the final metres, giving the impression something very special might also be expected in the final later."

Something special did follow.

Powell, who had had the assistance in the heat of a 1.7metres following wind, won again in 9.78sec with no wind assistance, a time that statisticians will regard as the greater of the two runs.

Each one metre per second of wind assistance is calculated to be worth a tenth of a second in time.

Powell, 24, admitted after finishing third in Osaka that he gave up when he sensed Tyson Gay passing him after 70 metres, allowing the Bahamian Derrick Atkins also to overtake.

"I've been with my coach since, and working hard to get back to normal. The last 40 metres were very strong. I executed it and did what I came to do," said Powell.

But it only confirms the general belief that Powell is at his best only when the pressure is off. Osaka was his fourth disappointment in a global championships.

In the 2003 World Championships he was disqualified for a false start. A year later at the Olympic Games in Athens, he finished fifth and in 2005, the year when he surpassed American Maurice Greene's world record with the time of 9.77sec he beat yesterday.

Indeed, the only international championship 100 metres that Powell has won is the Commonwealth Games last year in Melbourne, a title hardly regarded as significant among the world's fast men.

He runs fast, it seems, only when the most serious opposition is absent.

He chose not to run in the Golden League meeting in Zurich last Friday where Gay and Atkins were expected to run — they pulled out at the last minute claiming tiredness — and announced he would run instead in Rieti, where only the last finisher in Osaka, Marc Burns, was expected, and in Warsaw where none of the world finalists were.

Closest finisher to him yesterday in his heat was a Norwegian, Saidy Ndure Jaysuma in 10.07 while in the final the runner-up was his Jamaican training partner Michael Frater in 10.03.

Gay and Powell are both scheduled to run on Friday in the Golden League meeting in Brussels but Wilfried Meert, its director, said last night: "Whether it is in the same race I don't yet know."

Powell had previously shared the record of 9.77 with the US Olympic champion Gatlin but it was a share only in the technical sense.

The IAAF are waiting for the imminent conclusion of Gatlin's appeal against an eight-year doping ban before wiping it from their records.

Ten seconds was broken for the first time in 1968 by American Jim Hines.

This is the ninth time the record has been broken in the subsequent 39 years, the greatest margin since Greene set his record in Athens in 1999.

The record breakers

9.92 Carl Lewis Seoul, Sep 88

9.90 Leroy Burrell New York, Jun 91

9.86 Carl Lewis Tokyo, Aug 91

9.85 Leroy Burrell Lausanne, Jul 94

9.84 Donovan Bailey Atlanta, Jul 96

9.79 Maurice Greene Athens, Jun 99

9.77 Asafa Powell Athens, Jun 05

9.77 Justin Gatlin Doha,May 06

9.77 Asafa Powell Gateshead, Jun 06

9.77 Asafa Powell Zurich, Aug 06

9.74 Asafa Powell Rieti, Sep 07