NEW YORK (JIS) Wednesday, May 27, 2009 – Former world record holder in the Men’s 100 meters, Asafa Powell of Jamaica will get another chance to redeem himself and to test his readiness for the upcoming World Athletics Championship in Berlin Germany in August, when he competes in the fifth staging of the Reebok Grand Prix meeting at the Icahn Stadium, New York City, on Saturday, May 30, 2009, starting at 3:00 pm.
Powell, who eased up on a gimpy ankle, some five strides into the anchor leg of the men’s sprint relay at last month’s Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia, USA, is expected to be on Jamaica’s national team to the ‘Worlds’.
In the absence of the current world and Olympic champion and compatriot Usain Bolt, Powell is expected to face his biggest test since last August in the person of American Tyson Gay, who is himself looking to regain his stature among the sports’ elite corp., following a near career ending injury.
Like Powell and Gay, a number of the world’s top runners and jumpers from over 30 countries will be using the meet to prepare for what, in many instances could be Beijing revisited in Berlin.
Along with the men’s sprint final, meet organizers are labeling the Women’s 100 meters, Men’s 110 meters hurdles, Women’s 200 meters and 400 meters and the Men’s and Women’s 5000 meters races as their marquee events on the 2009 programme.
Five years in the making, the Reebok Grand Prix meet, now the fourth stop on the USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, will also feature five of the top high school boys sprint relay teams from Jamaica. There will also be two novelty races to determine the ‘fastest kid in New York City’ among 7-8 year olds.
The afternoon meeting is a presentation of Global Athletics Management with corporate support from Western Union, Air Jamaica and Irie Jam Media Group.
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Contact:
Aubrey L. Campbell
JIS/NY
T: 212-935-7506
