ATHLETICS: Passionate Asafa eyes sub-10 record, aiming for century

With 87 legal sub-10 seconds 100m times to his name, former world record holder Asafa Powell is looking forward to hitting the century mark, promising a special celebration at the landmark.

Eleven years after running his first electronically – timed 100m race under 10 seconds, Powell went on to post 86 sub-10s timed by a clock, with an additional seven marks coming with illegal wind and one by hand time.

The now 32-year-old sprinter, had his most successful years in 2008 when he landed 15 sub-10 seconds 100m times and in 2006, when he registered 12. 

Powell, who believes that he is not always given enough credit for his decade-long consistency, admitted that he has given some thought to getting to the 100 sub-10 mark; hardly surprising for someone who goes by the nickname the ‘The Sub-10 King’.

“Its definitely something I take a lot of pride in and something I focus on. I’m trying to get to the 100 mark and we will probably build something around that when I’m closer to it. I will try to get as much as possible this year so it would be good if all my remaining races are under 10 seconds,” said Powell.

Powell won today’s IAAF Diamond League meet in Paris in a time of 9.81.