Chest injury healing, Jamaica's Powell back on track »

Chest injury healing, Jamaica's Powell back on track

Asafa Powell

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP):

World record holder Asafa Powell resumed training yesterday after missing time with a chest injury, and should be in good health in time for the Olympics, his manager said.

Powell, who ran the 100 metres in 9.74 seconds last year to break the record, pulled a pectoral muscle last month and halted training for about two weeks.

"He's doing fine," Powell's agent, Paul Doyle, told The Associated Press. "We expect him to be 100 per cent in two weeks. It's just a matter of making up time. It shouldn't affect his Olympic preparation."

On May 3 Powell's countryman, Usain Bolt, ran the second-fastest 100 metres ever, finishing in 9.76 seconds at the Jamaica International Invitational.

Prefontaine Classic

The two are expected to meet at Jamaica's national championships at the end of June. Powell will not run in the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon early next month.

World champion Kenenisa Bekele hopes to break his world record in the 10,000 metres on June 8 in the Nike Prefontaine Classic, which would be his first race in the United States.

The 25-year-old Ethiopian, who also holds the world record in the 5,000, will try to lower the time of 26 minutes, 17.53 seconds he set three years ago in Brussels, Belgium.

Bekele's agent Jos Hermens told Prefontaine organisers that this will be "an absolutely serious attempt."

The race will start at 9:30 a.m., which is before the meet officially begins, to take advantage of weather conditions.

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