'It feels great to be the fastest man in the world,'

Powell sets world 100 record

"In a world measured in the hundredths of seconds, Asafa Powell shaved 0.01 off the men's 100 meters world record, the mark that holds the most romance of any in track and field.

Powell, a 22-year-old sprinter from Kingston, Jamaica, topped Tim Montgomery's three-year-old record by running 9.77 seconds at a Grand Prix meet at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Tuesday. At first, the race clock read 9.78, which would have tied Montgomery, but after looking more precisely at the timing, officials rounded it down to 9.77.

'It feels great to be the fastest man in the world,' Powell told reporters. He has been the top-rated 100-meter runner over the past two seasons, although he finished fifth in the Olympic final on the same track last August."

International Herald Tribune