Athletics: Powell equals world record for third time

Asafa Powell, the Jamaica sprinter, equalled his own 100 metres world record of 9.77 seconds at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich last night. It is the third time Powell has clocked 9.77.

"It felt good out there," Powell said. Asked if he could go faster, Powell answered: "I think so, we'll just have to wait and see."

Powell set the world record in Athens in 2004 and was equalled by Justin Gatlin in May. Powell matched it again a month later in Gateshead.

Gatlin was absent from Weltklasse after testing positive for doping following a race in April. If Gatlin is proven guilty, his world record will be stripped.

On the domestic front, any likely awkwardness at this weekend's Norwich Union International - where Britain's relay squad to face opposition from the United States, China and Russia contained the names Darren Campbell and Dwain Chambers - has been dispelled by the former's retirement.

The 32-year-old sprinter, who refused to join in the celebrations after helping Britain to win the European sprint relay title last Sunday because he was unhappy with Chambers' presence in the team, had planned to round his career off by running in Birmingham, but called time two days earlier after winning a 100m race in Grangemouth.

The result of the Campbell-Chambers rematch was likely to have been the most keenly awaited of the weekend. What remains to be seen now, a week after a European Championships where the British team realised its medal target - 10, which it exceeded by one - is how some of the younger talents who forced their way on to the podium in Gothenburg will get on.

None faces a more stringent test than Mohammed Farah, who missed out on the 5,000m gold medal by 0.09sec in Gothenburg. The former refugee from Somalia, 23, will face the former Kenyan runner Bernard Lagat, an Olympic 1,500m silver and bronze medallist, over 3,000m.

The task facing Greg Rutherford, the 19-year-old long-jump silver medallist in Gothenburg with 8.13m, is also a daunting one given he will face Olympic champion Dwight Phillips, and Brian Johnson, who has an 8.33m jump to his credit.