9.77 Afasa wins again .

[Courtney]

9.77 think is the 3 rd time he's gone this low .

[Tilla]

RE: 9.77 Afasa wins again .

The third time is a charm!

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3><DIV class=mxb><DIV class=sh>Powell equals 100m world record </DIV></DIV></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><DIV> <DIV class=cap>Powell has consistently ran fast times this year</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Jamaican Asafa Powell equalled the 100m world record of 9.77secs he jointly owns with Justin Gatlin at the Golden League meeting in Zurich on Friday.

Powell, 23, has run the same time twice before, first in Athens in June 2005 and again in Gateshead last month.

"It felt good out there," said Powell, who led from start to finish, with American Tyson Gay finishing second in a personal best of 9.84.

Olympic champion Gatlin ran the same time in Doha on 12 May this year.

But he was subsequently found to have tested positive for testosterone in April, and faces a lifetime ban and the loss of his record run if he is found guilty by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Powell, meanwhile, is among nine athletes fighting for a share in a US$1m jackpot, having now won all four of his Golden League events.

His latest record run came despite an arduous trip from Jamaica, which took three days because of disruptions caused by the alleged terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from London. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Mosiah]

RE: 9.77 Afasa wins again .

<H1>And Stephen Francis does it again!</H1><H1>After Beijing, Spencer runs after World Junior record</H1><P class=newsDate>Friday 18 August 2006

Beijing, China - The works of Stephen Francis, head coach of the super productive, MVP Club, has gone beyond turning out a World record holder in Asafa Powell.

Francis, now one of the world’s most famous has turned a half miler into a World Junior champion.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=104 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=1></TD><TD width=103></TD></TR><TR><TD width=104 colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD width=1 bgColor=#000000 rowSpan=2></TD><TD width=103><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=103 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=PicCaption width=103>Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica in action in the women's 400m Hurdles
(Getty Images)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD width=103></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Kaliese Marie Spencer, still in her first year of hurdling has become Francis’ latest star.

The 19-year-old female, who a year ago finished sixth at Jamaica’s High School Championships in the 800m (2:14.79) and 400 (56.53) for Under-19 girls, has risen up the ranks since her first 400m Hurdles event at Hurdles Fest in Kingston, less than seven months ago.

First experience at 400m Hurdles

At the 2005 High School Championships, she won the 800m for Under-17 girls in 2:12.23 seconds.

Spencer spoke of her first encounter with the obstacle. “When I went to UTech, I did not know my event. I taught I would be doing to 400m and 800m, because the latter was my pet event, however, coach Francis said he wanted me to do the 400m Hurdles. He thought that I have the potential,” said Spencer.

She noted it was wayward at the start. “I was if and butting if I was suppose to do it, because I was nothing … eventually I did it.”

“I remembered the first day I went out to do some drills, it was a bit hard for me. I had to get the rhythm and technique, but it just became better and better each day I went out to training,” explained the girl from a parish in Western Jamaica, Westmoreland.

In early April, she first signalled her intention of great things by running 57.0 to beat World Junior bronze medallist from Grosseto, Sherene Pinnock, at the Junior Carifta Games Trials in Kingston.

At Penn Relays in March, she finished second in the 400m Hurdles for College students in 55.64 seconds, but it was on June 11, she achieved her first landmark, at the Gateshead Super Grand Prix, by establishing a new national junior record of 55.61, beating the previous mark of 55.62 held by many time WJC medallist, Melaine Walker.

In what must rank as the major moment of her junior career, Spencer copped Jamaica’s first gold medal on Thursday’s third day of the 11th IAAF World Junior Track &amp; Field Championships at the Chaoyang Sport Centre in the Chinese capital.

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