Bolt and Powell clash in Beijing athletics taster

Bolt and Powell clash in Beijing athletics taster

Jamaican rivals Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell clash in a mouthwatering Beijing Olympics 100m appetizer here on Tuesday ahead of a crucial week of sprint shadowboxing.

Bolt set the new 100m world record of 9.72sec in May, deposing compatriot Powell, who held the previous mark of 9.74.

Powell will go into Tuesday's race under an injury cloud having pulled up with a groin strain at his last outing in Rome earlier this month while Bolt has been buoyed by having set the fifth fastest 200m of all time this season.

Bolt and Powell last met at their national championships on June 28, with the world's fastest man getting the better of his teammate winning in 9.85sec to 9.97sec.

After Tuesday's race, Powell will then head to London to face Tyson Gay on Friday.

The American, the world 100m and 200m champion, has also been nursing an injury but won the US Olympic trials final in Oregon in June in a wind-aided 9.68, the fastest time ever under any conditions.

Despite Bolt grabbing all the attention with his record-breaking achievement, Powell insists he is happy to prepare in the shadows.

"I guess it is a lot better when the attention is not on me," he said.

"I prefer it that way. I am a lot more comfortable now. I can relax and focus on my form and technique and just focus on running fast."

The Stockholm meet also features the year's first clash of women polevault stars, Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva and Jennifer Stuczynski of the United States.

Isinbayeva set her 22nd world record when she easily cleared 5.03m in Rome, a perfect response to seeing the American win the USA Olympic trials with 4.92m.

"When Stuczynski jumped 4.90 then 4.92 it made me so angry because everyone started to say Isinbayeva is finished, we have a new star'. It made me angry and I am happy for that feeling because I didn't feel it enough since my last world record," said the Russian.

There is another mouth watering encounter in the men's 110m hurdles.

World record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba, who missed out on a new record by just 100th of second in Paris on Friday, faces David Oliver for the first time since the American beat him in Berlin on June 1.