Fit Powell ready to face Gatlin

World record holder Asafa Powell can even the score when he lines up against Olympic champion Justin Gatlin in the 100 metres at the London Grand Prix on Friday.

Gatlin was given the verdict over Powell in their only other meeting this year in Eugene, Oregon although both were timed at a wind assisted 9.84 seconds. “That wasn’t really a race for me,” the 22-year-old Powell told reporters on Tuesday. “I was only 95 percent fit and I didn’t run to my full potential.” The Jamaican ran a world record 9.77 10 days later in Athens’s Olympic stadium, the scene of Gatlin’s surprise triumph last year.

The pair were due to meet in Rome earlier this month but Powell withdrew with a groin injury. Gatlin won the race in 9.96 seconds.

“Yesterday I trained and felt very good. It felt like the old Asafa Powell,” he said. Talking about his main rival for the 100 title at next month’s world championships in Helsinki, Gatlin said: “The best acknowledge each other I think, and right now we see each other as the best out there.