Athletics Australia – NEWS – Sprint sensations head down under this summer

Sprint fans will be in for a treat this summer, following the news that American star Xavier ‘X-Man’ Carter and three members of Jamaica’s 4 x 100m Olympic gold medal winning relay team including Asafa Powell will be burning up the track in Sydney and Melbourne this summer.

Powell, the second fastest man in the world, will be accompanied in Australia by his esteemed coach Steve Francis, and his talented training group which includes Olympic 100m finalist and world championships bronze medallist Mike Frater, fellow Beijing relay member Nesta Carter, 2008 Beijing 400m silver medallist Shericka Williams and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker.

United States sprinter Xavier Carter is scheduled to compete in the 400m at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday 28 February and in the Peter Norman Memorial 200m at the World Athletics Tour Melbourne on Thursday 5 March.

Known as the ‘X-man’ for his famous crossed arm victory salute, Carter shocked the track and field world in 2006 with what was the second fastest 200m of all-time (19.63 seconds) at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

At the time, only Michael Johnson's world-record of 19.32 seconds from the Atlanta Olympic Games was faster.

In the same year, Carter historically won four titles at the prestigious NCAA Championships in the 100m, 400m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, becoming the first athlete since Jesse Owens to win four gold medals and the first athlete to win both the 100m and 400m.

Since then his 2007 and 2008 seasons have been marred by a knee injury, and the 23-year-old is keen to kick start his 2009 campaign with a breakthrough summer in Australia as he looks towards August’s world championships in Berlin.

"After being injured this past summer I wanted to get back on track as fast as possible,” said Carter.

“I have heard so many great things about the meets in Australia that I thought that there was no better place to start my outdoor season!"

Carter, who played wide receiver for the Louisiana State University Tigers at Collage, will feel right at home in Australia, as he grew up attending high school in Melbourne (Florida).

Olympic Park erupted when former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell took to the track at the World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne in March last year.

Having injured his knee falling up stairs in his Jamaican home just prior to his departure for Australia, there was never the certainty that Powell would compete in his signature event. However, Powell rose to the occasion, powering across the finish line to record a new meet record of 10.04 (-0.2), beating the previously held best of 10.09 by American Maurice Greene.

This year’s sojourn will mark Powell’s third visit to Australia in four years. His fastest time on Australian soil was his 10.03 in the final at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, a time he has every chance of beating this summer.

Powell’s record speaks for itself. The world 100m record holder from June 2005 to May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds, he is the only man in history to have seven legal runs under 9.80 seconds. A winner of the World Athletics Final on six occasions, he won his first Olympic gold medal anchoring the Jamaican 4 x 100m relay team to victory in Beijing, helping establish a new world record in the process.

Post Beijing, Powell recorded seven consecutive 100m races under 9.90 seconds in Europe. This stretch included his personal best of 9.72 seconds – the second fastest 100m in history.

However, Powell has a lot to prove in 2009. After holding the title of the ‘world’s fastest man’ for just under two years, fellow Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt came along and knocked Powell off his perch last year, stunning the sporting world with amazing world record runs and Olympic gold.

In addition to the 100m world record, the only thing that remains missing from Powell’s outstanding resume is a major title. Finishing fifth in the 100m final at the Beijing and Athens Olympics, he was defeated by Tyson Gay at the world championships in Osaka in 2007 after heading in as favourite.

In Australia to commence his preparations for the 2009 world championships, the ‘underdog tag’ may just benefit the 26-year-old, as he attempts to erase that major championship curse.

Both the Sydney Track Classic and World Athletics Tour Melbourne will be broadcast around Australia on Network Ten. Any Australian athlete who breaks an Australian record will receive a $10,000 bonus as part of the $310,000 prize money on offer this summer.

Sydney Track Classic – Sydney Olympic Park – Saturday 28 February 2009
World Athletics Tour – Olympic Park Melbourne – Thursday 5 March 2009

Athletics Australia – NEWS