Gay throws down gauntlet to Bolt and Powell

Monaco :

American Tyson Gay threw down the gauntlet to Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell by powering his way to victory in the 200m at the IAAF Diamond League meet here on Thursday.

As Bolt and Powell took a break, Gay provided the main focus with the American following his 100m win over Powell in Gateshead earlier this month with a strong performance in the 200m.

Gay arrived in the Principality with the aim of beating his personal best this season of 19.76sec, and he succeeded, clocking 19.72, to finish ahead of Jamaican Yohan Blake (19.78) and American Wallace Spearmon (19.93), despite running into difficulties towards the end.

"I slipped a little, I was too much on the outside. But it's a good time, I wanted to run fast, it's good," said Gay, who is preparing to take on Bolt and Powell in Stockholm on August 6.

Fellow American David Oliver, however, failed in his bid for a world record in the 110m hurdles after missing out by just 200ths of a second last Friday in Paris.

The Florida athlete, the third fastest performer of all time since his 12.89sec in Paris, clocked 13.01 to finish ahead of compatriot Ryan Wilson (13.13) and Jamacian Dwight Thomas (13.29).

"Everyong expects me to break the world record every time I race. But here I ran well despite the pressure," said Oliver, who maintained his unbeaten run this season after 13 races.

American Carmelita Jeter, the second top performer of all time over 100m since last year, upstaged another Jamaican, beating Veronica Campbell-Brown, who had come into the race as favourite after running a personal-best and world leading 10.78 in Eugene.

Jeter broke clear at the half-way point to win in 10.82, with Campbell-Brown crossing second in 10.98 ahead of Trinidad's Kelly-Ann Baptiste (11.03).

Seven world best performances this season were achieved on Thursday with the most impressive coming from Kenyan Silas Kiplagat over 1500m.

Kiplagat, 20, clocked 3min 29.27sec to become the tenth top performer of all time, shaving nearly five seconds of his personal best (3:34.28) and the season's best achieved by compatriot Nicholas Kemboi (3:31.52).