Series07 Jul 2010


'I will be very hard to beat'

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Asafa Powell at the Oslo Diamond League meeting (© Mark Shearman)

Former World 100m record holder Asafa Powell says he’s in the best shape of his life and will be hard to beat this season.

“To this point in the season I have been running very fast but for most of my races I have been winning easy. From what my manager and my coach tell me, my next race is in Gateshead where I will be racing Tyson Gay and the next one in Paris, there I will be racing Usain Bolt.

"With these big races coming up, I look to improve even more from where I have been. I really feel that I am in the best shape of my life, and I will be very hard to beat.

“And if you are wondering what has changed, my approach isn’t really any different. I just have not had any serious injuries. Last year I missed nine weeks of training from between April and June because of an ankle injury. This year other than very minor things I have been able to remain injury free, so I think that is what has made the biggest difference for me.

“The question about whether I will run more 200m, the answer is I don’t really know. It really is my coach’s decision. He had told me I was running the 200m at Nationals (Jamaica Trials) only a few days before the race. I have not had much luck running 200m races so I took it pretty easy on the turn and started running harder in the straightaway. Also at the start my blocks had slipped, so I was really happy that I still broke 20 seconds. I am sure I could go much much faster but we will just have to see what happens in the future.

“At trials, I ran in new apparel and again it raised questions. It is official that I have signed with Li Ning as my new apparel sponsor. I have been very thankful to Nike for supporting me for the past 7 years, but I am so excited to start working with my new sponsor in Li Ning. They are a great company and are on the cutting edge of shoe design; we have begun developing new sprint spikes that I am very much looking forward to running in.

“Off the track, I am spending a lot of the time at home as most of my time outside of training has been devoted to my foundation. We have been planning different fund raising activities and looking for new ways to support the youth in Jamaica. We want to be able to help more kids in Jamaica and give them opportunities they would not otherwise have.”

Asafa


 

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