Asafa: A Column By Len Johnson

Usain Bolt is faster.

Liu Xiang wondered recently whether Bolt is from another planet. “You do not belong to the earth,” he told him at a Shanghai Diamond League press conference in a comment which obviously lost very little in translation.

Tyson Gay is also faster and, going on their head-to-head record since the 2007 Osaka world championships, mentally tougher.

So how come we’re all talking about Asafa Powell again? Well, one obvious answer would be that, of the big three of sprinting, Powell is the only one going round at the minute.

Bolt started his season with a sizzling 19.56 200 metres in Kingston, won in Shanghai and then ran the second-fastest time ever over 300 metres in Ostrava late last month. Now he has a stiff and sore achilles tendon.

Gay broke 45 seconds for 400 metres in April, making him the first man to have a sub-10, a sub-20 and a sub-45 to his name, and then broke Tommie Smith’s world record for the straight 200 metres in a Manchester street race. He is out of the weekend’s New York Diamond League with soreness in his hamstring. According to his agent, who is also the meeting manager, told Reuters: “There’s a readiness needed to run the 100 metres and he does not have that.”

Not injured, just not ready, then. Result the same _ not running.

Meanwhile, Powell just keeps churning out fast 100-metre races like they were going outof style. On Thursday night at Rome’s Golden Gala meeting, he ran 9.82 seconds, nipping a hundredth of a second off the year’s best he set in Ostrava. This was despite dwelling in the blocks, his reaction time _ 0.214 seconds _ more akin to a 400 metres runner than a straight-line speedster.

It was Powell’s 63^rd wind-legal sub-10 and 70^th overall. Nice numbers those.

Powell might accumulate sub-10s like Steve Waugh used to accumulate Test runs for Australia, but he performs more like Steve’s more profligate twin brother, Mark.

Now Mark Waugh could bat, and on several notable occasions he put his head down and ground out big scores just like his flinty brother, but he could also give his wicket away with all the misplaced generosity of a drunk on a spree.

Asafa Powell runs like that. For all his prodigious talent, there are times when you wonder just what on earth he is doing. Like when he gave away the silver medal when Gay had him beaten in the Osaka 100 final, or when he faded to fifth in the Beijing Olympic final. Or, when he lost to Justin Gatlin at the Prefontaine Meeting in 2005 when even a cursory ‘dip’ at the finish line would have got him home the winner.

For the most part, Powell’s problems have come at major championships. When others step up, he seems to shrink. Kinder folk have suggested he consult the sports psychologist; harsher critics, many of whom would not run for a bus for fear of losing, go for the ‘choker’ term.

Whatever _ 2010 is not a major championship year and Powell is already shaping up for his best season since 2006, also a non-championship year.

Back then, Powell did win his only individual gold medal _ at the Commonwealth Games on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He also compiled one of the most impressive seasons ever by a sprinter. After Gatlin sidelined himself with a positive drug test in April, Powell had no challenger (Gay was emerging, but not yet a major force; Bolt was still a junior prodigy struggling to overcome injuries).

Powell equalled the world record he shared with Gatlin (whose performance was subsequently annulled) with 9.77 in Gateshead in early June, and equalled it again in Zurich, ahead of Gay, just over two months later.

In between, he ran 9.85 in Paris and Rome, then 9.86 in Stockholm. He again ran 9.86 in Berlin at the start of September, and won at the World Athletic Final in Stuttgart a couple of weeks later.

This year, Powell again seems to be in that sort of form. He has reportedly lost weight by paying a bit more attention to his diet and appears more relaxed and happy _ though outwardly, it must be said, he gives the impression of being relaxed and happy most of the time.

Presumably, both Bolt and Gay will be back in mint physical condition soon. If they are, Powell will take some beating this year. If not, he is once again showing he is capable of carrying the show on his own.