Men’s 100 may not be so two-sided now

OSAKA, Japan -- Asafa Powell of Jamaica vs. Tyson Gay of the United States. Four rounds for track and field’s heavyweight title. Put everyone else on the undercard.

That is how Sunday’s 100-meter final at the World Track and Field Championships shaped up two months ago, when Gay was pounding the clock as if it were a speed bag and Powell was coming off one of the speediest 100-meter seasons in history.

Neither sprinter has been particularly impressive since, each failing to break 10 seconds in his last race before the worlds.

And, lest anyone forget, neither has won a medal in the worlds or Olympics.

“Everyone is saying those guys are up there, I’m in the middle by myself, and then there is the rest of the pack,” said Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas. “I’m perfectly comfortable being in the shadows.”

Atkins (9.95 seconds) is fourth fastest on the world 100 list this season, behind Gay (9.84), Powell (9.90) and Walter Dix of the United States (9.93). Dix passed up a chance to run at worlds.

“It will probably take a world record to win,” Atkins said.

Last year, Powell twice matched the world record of 9.77 he had set in 2005. His training this season has been interrupted by injury and occasional indifference, with Powell reportedly telling Japanese media he had gone on a pub crawl a week ago.

The Jamaican has yet to show he can withstand the championship meet rigors of four races in two days.

Powell was disqualified for a false start in the quarterfinals of the 2003 worlds and missed the 2005 meet with an injury. Favored in the 2004 Olympics, he finished fifth.

Gay was fourth in the 200 at the 2005 worlds.

In stifling conditions of 93 degrees and 64% humidity at race time, both Gay and Powell cruised through first-round heats this morning, each content to place second in his heat. The quarterfinals are tonight.

Gay, who clocked 10.19, found it hard to run as slow as he hoped.

“I wanted to go 10.2, 10.3, but I couldn’t go that slow [because] it’s the fastest track I’ve been on in my life,” Gay said.

Alan Webb, second in his heat today, and Bernard Lagat, third in his, both advanced to Monday’s 1,500-meter semifinals. Lagat overcame a stumble and finished with blood on his left shin after getting spiked.

Quote of the day: “I know if I do my best it is impossible for someone to beat me” -- Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who has the 13 highest vaults in history.

Today’s big event: Men’s shotput final, in which defending champion Adam Nelson is among four U.S. throwers with a shot at a medal.

Sunday’s big event: Men’s 100-meter final.

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-- Philip Hersh