Why the 60m Suits Powell Just Fine

Asafa Powell’s management team has announced that for the first time in eight years he will be competing indoors this upcoming season. And the news has stirred interesting reaction among track fans. Some have asked why, positing their own theories in the process. The assumptions have ranged from the attraction of big money to be made indoors, in Europe to a strategy to improve his race to an opportunity to regain lost prominence.

According to an Associated Press report, Powell’s manager, Paul Doyle, expects big things from the sprinter ahead of what could be Powell’s swan song Olympics. Doyle’s reasoning? The 29-year-old has a new attitude, “the best we have ever seen him train with,” he said.

Change in Strategy

So Powell, who has been admired for his power and talent and criticized for his seemingly lack of mental toughness, will be running 60m races, with the ultimate prize being the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, March 9 to 11, 2012.

Many athletes have done the indoor circuit, which has the 60m, to fine-tune the first part of their race. It makes sense; since the race is over in the blink of an eye, it forces the athlete to get things correct out of the blocks to be among the medal contenders.

However, Powell is known for his explosive start, excellent drive phase, acceleration phase and transition phase, which are the three most important aspects of the short sprint. Other sprinters can hardly compete with Asafa, who doesn’t have a problem with mechanics. Usain Bolt will get up behind the field but will slow down at a much slower rate than most sprinters. Yohan Blake does the same. Powell, on the other hand, gets out early and has the rest of the field covered for the first 60 meters; however, he has shown to lose his top-end speed thereafter, if he feels an arch-rival on his shoulder. The layperson will argue that in such case, he should be working on the last part of his race and not the first.

Monetary Incentive, Another Record?

With this reasoning, some have assumed that it is, therefore, not about working on technicalities; it’s all about money and the idea that, as it stands, he has the 60m locked. After all, who could be tipped to beat him over the event? Among other ferocious starters whom we know are his MVP club teammate Nesta Carter (6.54) and American Mike Rodgers (6.48). Indoor races in Europe are taken seriously, are crowd pleasers and pay well. Powell’s appearance could, therefore, be a huge cash cow for him in 2012.

Unlike the Olympics and the Outdoor World Championships, where gold has eluded Powell, the title of World Indoor Champion has his name written all over it. That depends, of course, on whether he remains healthy. Wins on the indoor circuit could also give him something special: a world record, which many fans believe he’ll never regain over the longer sprint.

USA’s Maurice Greene, the former 100m world record holder before Asafa Powell, still holds the 60m world record at 6.39ses, clocked in 1998. That was before Powell was revealed to the world as a teenager at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where he ran a stunning anchor leg to give Jamaica silver in the sprint relay. Two years later at age 20, he registered his indoor personal best of 6.56.

Since then, Powell has stayed outdoors, has broken the 100m world record twice, and has run under 10 seconds close to 80 times. It’s a number to which no other sprinter has even come close.

It is, therefore, highly likely that a fit Asafa Powell creating rampage indoors could take down Green’s 11-year-old world record and put his name back in the record book on his way to London.

He makes his New York indoor debut on January 28 at Madison Square Garden.