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Former world record holder Asafa Powell continued his good form on Monday, winning the 100 metres at the Rieti Grand Prix with a time of 9.82 seconds.
Powell beat his Jamaican sprint team mate Michael Frater, who clocked 9.98, as well as Ronald Pognon of France and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who both ran 10.10.
Powell has produced some impressive performances since he finished a disappointing fifth in the 100 metres Olympic final, which was won by his compatriot Usain Bolt with the record time of 9.69.
After running 9.72 in Switzerland last week, expectations here were high that Powell could beat that time.
He raised them further when he warmed up for the final by running 9.77 to win his heat but was slower in the final after making a false start.
"I know I can break that record," Powell told a news conference when asked if the false start had affected his performance.
"If I'd gotten my normal start in the final I'd have broken that record."
He added that he had plenty of room for improvement.
"My coach says I keep making the same mistakes, even after I ran 9.72," he said.
"There's still a lot of work to do. I'm still making mistakes at the start and at the finish."
Stiff challenge
Shelly Ann Fraser beat her Jamaican compatriot Kerron Stewart into
second place again in the women's 100 metres after taking gold
ahead of her and joint silver medallist Sherone Simpson at the
Olympics.
In the women's 400m hurdles, Jamaica's Olympic champion Melaine Walker held off a stiff challenge from Briton Tasha Danvers, who took bronze in Beijing, to prevail despite nearly falling after clipping a barrier before the final bend.
Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who became the first woman to win Olympic gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres in Beijing, won the 5,000 with a time of 14:23.46, more than 12 seconds away from her own world record.
Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva gained some revenge in the triple jump by winning with a leap of 14.94 metres, while Cameroon's Francoise Mbango, who beat her to gold in Beijing, came third with an effort of 14.90.
Lebedeva's compatriot Anna Pyatykh jumped one centimetre further than Mbango to come second.
