Powell out of French meet »

Powell out of French meet

Asafa Powell

PARIS (AP)

Asafa Powell pulled out of the Gaz de France meet after feeling a groin cramp while running in Rome last Friday.

The Jamaican sprinter is not taking any risks at the Golden League meet in Saint-Denis with less than four weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics.

Powell's agent, Paul Doyle, told The Associated Press that the former 100-metre world record holder would run in the Super Grand Prix meet in Stockholm on July 22.

"The injury is not bad," Doyle said. "It just made him realise that he has to get back into training a little bit. He wants to put in a full week of training. He's been able to train fully. But to do Paris would interrupt training too much."

Powell had held the 100 record of 9.74 seconds until May 31, when Usain Bolt ran 9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York. Tyson Gay won the U.S. trials in 9.68, but he had too strong of a tailwind.

"I think having company now in that 9.7 range actually takes pressure off of him (Powell)," Doyle said. "Everyone has been expecting him to break the world record every time out and win every race.

"He's training hard and fully expects to get his world record back at some stage. I think it's exciting for the sport, these guys to be racing each other and put up these fast times."

Powell finished third in the 100 of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, behind Gay and Derrick Atkins.

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