"First of all, congratulations to you, Mr. Powell, you won the RJR Sports Foundation's 2007 Athlete of the Year Award on January 29, I heard that you gave up the Sydney Grand Prix due to injury, so this time you are participating in the World Indoor Athletics Championships because you have recovered from your injury?"

"Asafa, is this your first time competing in the men's 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships? Why did you decide to participate in this contest on a whim? ”

"Mr. Powell, did you only participate in the men's 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships this year because you lost the 100m at the World Championships last year, do you want to prove yourself in this event?"

"Rumor has it that you're going to compete with Justin Gatlin, who ran 6.43 seconds in his first indoor race since his comeback, but is that what you really think?"

"Can you tell us about your expectations for this year's Olympics? Champion? Runner-up? ”

Standing in front of the camera, Powell looked at the reporters who were desperately squeezing towards him one after another, and he still had that indifferent look on his face.

Standing quietly in the middle of the crowd, he didn't answer, and he didn't change color because of some sharp questions.

There is just calm.

He now resides in the Spanish city of Valencia, the capital of Valencia, on the east coast of Spain, and the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona.

Despite the fact that it is March, Valencia has a typical subtropical and Mediterranean climate, with daytime temperatures averaging around 15°C.

For a Jamaican, it is obviously more pleasant to start an indoor game in such temperatures in the northern hemisphere when it is still winter.

As the number one athletic star of the 2008 World Indoor World Championships, his appearance is naturally the most eye-catching in the world.

Although he has not yet had a significant medal and the world record has long since changed hands, sprinting has always had a reputation as a pearl in athletics, and he is one of the fastest runners in the world today, and he is also the biggest track and field athlete at the World Indoor World Championships in Valencia, Spain.

"Asafa, your performance just now is difficult to satisfy the reporters present."

The press conference ended quickly, and the expression of the agent Terry in the background was not too good, looking at Asafa Powell's breezy expression, and slightly complaining.

It's not like 2005 when Asafa Powell broke the men's 100m world record held by Morris Green, and he had a natural advantage over both Gatlin and Suzu.

Moreover, people subconsciously have the habit of putting him in the first place.

But after the various big and small events in '06 and '07, despite benefiting from the various peak showdowns in the media and the various scenes of the top three dialogues, Powell's popularity has risen all over the world, and he is also the undisputed most talented sprinter.

But the embarrassment was always there, and there were two more people in front of him.

Although in terms of results, the gap between several people is minimal, but the first is the first, and the gold medal is the gold medal.

A top-class athlete, if there is no accolades to match it, in many cases, his weight will become a little erratic.

"By the time I'm done with the men's 60m, they'll probably be even more upset."

Powell had a faint smile on his face, and he was not at all disgusted by the attitude of the media, and since his debut, the voices of praise and singing have never stopped.

His career as an athlete, at least in the early stages, was much smoother than most.

He's the kind of talented fighter who's not had much of a career where a fighter has gone from a low-level competition to a career that has quickly made his way onto the international stage, and he's been successful in no time. So there was a lot less mentality honing, so much so that I used to be particularly susceptible to the influence of the competition and the media.

For this World Indoor Athletics Championships, Powell was not prepared to participate in it at first. This year, the 2008 season, all the athletes have their eyes on the Olympic Games, which is the biggest stage.

Almost none of the top sprinters chose to compete at the World Indoor Championships, neither did Suzu, not Guy, and neither did the newly returned Gatlin.

For them, the Indoor Athletics Championships mean little. Suzu and Gatlin both won the indoor races, while Guy was looking to keep his form out of injury, and he didn't have much of a competitive advantage in the 60m dash.

But his agent, Terry, convinced him that he needed a gold medal to prove himself, which was a commercial consideration.

And the re-emergence from coach Stephen Francis, who is first and foremost an athlete who has to adapt to head-to-head competition and be better able to accept the results of head-to-head competition.

Win, keep going. Lose, try to catch up.

Before the Olympics, such a major event will undoubtedly allow him to see himself better in the following competitions.

Moreover, there is another important reason, and that is that the semi-finals and finals of the men's 60m indoor competition are separated by two hours.

One of the reasons why he didn't perform well in the finals of the top tournaments was that his body didn't seem to be so adapted to playing the semi-finals and finals on the same day.

In the Golden League, he performed like a fish in water in various Grand Prix Golden Leagues with one day race, but when there was a one-day league, especially after running the semi-finals, he couldn't adjust his body to a better state in the two hours in between, and he couldn't relax all the time.

This situation, even though his mentality has been mellow and peaceful at the World Championships in Osaka last year, has always affected him to a certain extent.

Powell himself knows that he has adjusted well in terms of mentality at the World Championships in Osaka, but he still needs to adjust and hone through more major competitions.

As for the medals

The 2008 World Indoor Athletics Championships, the men's 60m race, a total of three rounds, the heats, the semi-finals and the final, were all held on March 7.

Although it is only a 60-meter short run, this kind of intensity is relatively large for the competition, especially the semi-finals and finals in the afternoon, the interval is short, and the players have to take full rest and adjustment between the two competitions like the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

In the morning, the men's 60m preliminaries were held, with a total of 64 competitors and a total of eight groups.

Powell was in Group 8, most of whom he wasn't familiar with, and the only one he had ever heard of was the up-and-coming American youngster, Michael Rogers, a small man who had a good first half.

But for Powell, just to advance to the semifinals, there was no difficulty, and with a time of 6.55 seconds, he easily won the first place in the group.

Although there are no top players in the men's 100 meters, this indoor track and field championship is a world-class event, and there are still many first-class sprinters who appear in the field.

Portugal's Francis Obikweru, Nigeria's Orusoki Fasuba, Great Britain's Dane Chambers, who returned in 2006, Gillins of St. Kitts and Nevis, and many more.

In the men's 100m, these athletes are good, but since 2005, there have been few frontal victories against him Asafa Powell in various Grand Prix and Golden League.

But in the men's 60 meters, although Powell is very confident, he is still a little nervous.

He had a fast start and first half of the race, which many have called a textbook start and acceleration, but many people overlook that he is also a tall and large runner.

He is about 6 feet 3 inches tall, which is between 1.88 meters and 1.90 meters, and according to the general sprint selection theory, his speed should be strong in the second half of the race, winning with a big stride.

However, with his strong muscles and superb starting skills, he had an extraordinary performance after the start acceleration.

The men's 60m semi-finals are a total of three groups, with eight players in each group, with the top two advancing directly and the remaining two places being selected by the two best performers.

In the morning heats, 6,500 seats were still available at the Louispugue Arena in Valencia, but in the afternoon, when the men's 60m semi-finals and final were about to begin, the stadium was full.

In particular, many reporters who interviewed and asked Powell a lot of questions before the game that Powell did not get answers were even more excited, and everyone wanted to see whether the men's 100-meter sprinter, one of the most dominant runners in the world, would fail in the men's 60-meter race at the World Indoor Championships.

If you really lose, then there will be a hot spot for the next day.

"Bad mentality, Powell missed the championship again? 》

"A genius who can run fast in the big race with the baton? 》

……

Whether you want to sneer or lament the uncrowned king of sprints, it's always the athlete who decides the final outcome of the field.

The three men's 60m semi-finals went on very quickly, and with the final squad out, there was no doubt that Powell had advanced again.

And he qualified for first place in 6.44 seconds, a result that could have won the indoor championship in a previous competition, 0.07 seconds faster than the fastest second place Olusoki Fasuba.

16:40 p.m.

The atmosphere at the Louis Pugue Arena reached a new climax.

More than 6,000 native Spanish visitors and hundreds of visitors from other countries began to look forward to it.

At this time, the indoor track and field championships were not as fancy as after 2010, and there would be no fireworks for each athlete to appear.

But the athletes who appeared one by one still have close-ups and passionate pre-game introductions on the radio and on the big screen.

When Powell walked out of the aisle with a calm expression, the cheers of the audience were still the most enthusiastic, and Powell, who has performed successfully in almost every Grand Prix in Europe since 05, is no stranger to many local audiences in Spain.

At the Madrid IAAF Grand Prix for three consecutive years, Powell has performed dominantly in the men's 100m, and the competition with Suzu, Gatling, and Guy in the 100m event in recent years has made him extremely popular in many parts of Europe.

It's just that in the 60-meter final of the World Indoor Athletics Championships, what kind of performance will Powell bring?

Whether it is the audience or the media, there is a big question mark in their hearts.

Tournament wilting, tournament performance is abnormal, mental quality is poor, and so on in an instant many people's minds come to mind.

By the start line, eight runners were seated in Orusoki Fasuba, Dane Chambers, Kim Collins, Michael Rogers, Vicente de Lima, Simon Williamson, Isaac Uche and Asafa Powell.

Before the starting line, Powell stood out from the crowd, being noticeably taller and taller than the rest of the race.

The difference between the men's 60m and men's 100m is evident at this time.

In the men's 60m, the players are required to have better starting skills and fast cadence, so in terms of height, almost most of the players are under 1.80m tall. (Olusoki Fasuba 175, Dane Chambers 179, Kim Collins 179, Michael Rogers 170, current timeline 60m world record holder Maurice Green 1.76m)

In the men's 100m race, runners in the range of 1.80m to 1.90m are more common, and they also belong to the category of excellent materials.

In your 60-meter final, Obikviru, who is about Powell's height, was eliminated in the semi-finals, and his tall size didn't dominate at the start.

But Asafa Powell is an exception.

At this moment, Powell leaned over the starting line, listening to the gunshots that were about to sound, focused, without the slightest distraction.

Syllable!

The guns of the game rang out!

Powell's explosive start was on full display almost instantly.

The moment he took the first step, his right foot had full contact with the ground, and his stride was large, and he obtained enough reaction force, while the left foot that followed him almost dragged the ground forward, without too much folding, which saved a lot of time in the moment of his legs.

The strong muscles provide enough strength to the hips, allowing him to run not only with a large stride, but also with a fast cadence.

The feet are stretched back and forth, all in a straight line, and there is no unnecessary time lost by shaking from side to side like Tyson Gay.

The arms that were raised high and the five fingers of the palms that were stretched out all provided unimaginable power in this moment.

Asafa Powell's unique starting skills encapsulate almost all the sprinters that have appeared in the world today, and even all the sprinters that have appeared in the entire history of track and field today.

10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters......

A moment of acceleration, from the start of the almost indistinguishable many players, at this moment, there is a distinction between front and back.

Powell, on the other hand, grabbed a position lead at 30 meters.

And in the eyes of the audience, Powell's lead is not decreasing, but expanding.

In a matter of seconds, all the spectators felt almost nothing more than a flower in front of them, and then they saw a tall figure stand out and occupy the first place, sprinting directly towards the finish line.

It's just too fast, too fast.

Almost in a flash, Powell crossed the finish line and, sprinting too fast, slammed directly into a cushion thirty metres outside the finish line.

When the audience and reporters at the scene saw the set of numbers on the tall yellow timing board next to the runway, almost all of them grew their mouths.

6.37 seconds!

A new world record!

After the men's 100m world record was broken, Asafa Powell has set a new world record, the men's 60m world record!

The spotlight flashed again.

In one of the biggest track and field events before the 2008 Olympics, Asafa Powell showed his phenomenal form this year with a gold medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championships and a new world record.

What is Powell's best time in the 60m?

6.44 seconds.

Time, 2016. Location, Portland.

At that time, Asafa Powell was already in his thirties and had been plagued by various injuries for many years, but he was still able to run this 60-meter record that ranked eighth in history.

And now, he's in his prime.

(P.S. After the 2008 Olympics, Powell ran 9.90 seconds in seven consecutive 100-meter races, two of which were under 9.80 seconds, which can be said to be his peak year.) In his best 100m time of 9.72 seconds, the first half of the 60m speed reached 6.31 seconds or even 6.30 seconds, although the official 60m race is different from the 100m, he is actually capable of breaking the 60m world record. ）