Powell heads Golden League jackpot contenders

OSLO, June 1 (Reuters) Joint 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell is one of the favourites for a slice of the 1 million dollar Golden League Jackpot, which begins it's six-meeting series with the Bislett Games tomorrow.

The Jamaican who shares the world mark of 9.77 seconds with American arch rival Justin Gatlin has agreed to race in each of the six Golden League races.

When Powell will meet world and Olympic champion Gatlin, who equalled his record last month, remains to be seen although Gatlin's agent Renaldo Nehemiah suggested today it was likely to be next month.

Last year, Gatlin claimed victories in the Rome, Zurich and Brussels legs of the series.

World and Olympic 400 metres champion Jeremy Wariner is also among the series favourites.

After leading a U.S. sweep in the event at the 2004 Olympic Games, the 22-year-old become only the seventh man to dip under the 44-second barrier with his 43.93 victory at the world championships last year.

He has clocked the fastest time in the world this year an impressive 44.12 in April.

Wariner has said that he wants to seriously challenge the 1999 world record of 43.18 seconds set by Michael Johnson, who is now his manager.

''He believes I can do it,'' Wariner said.

Ethiopia's world and Olympic 10,000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele tops the contenders in the men's distance events.

RECORD BROKEN Bekele, 23, broke his 10,000 world record at the Golden League meeting in Brussels last August, running 26 minutes, 17.53 seconds.

In April, he completed an unprecedented fifth double win at the world cross country championships.

World high jump champion Kajsa Bergqvist is also a solid candidate for the jackpot.

In February, the 29-year-old Swede raised the world indoor record to 2.08m, eclipsing a mark that had stood for nearly 14 years.

Bergqvist missed the 2004 Athens Olympics when she tore her Achilles tendon a month before the Games but came back strongly last year, winning each of her 13 competitions.

''It would have been great if the Golden League was last year,'' said Bergqvist, who will expect strong competition from Olympic and two-times world indoor champion Yelena Slesarenko of Russia, and Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, who became the first woman to win the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the same world championships, will be favourite in the women's distances.

Eleven disciplines have been designated Golden League events this season. Any athlete who wins in five of the six competitions will be eligible to claim a share of 500,000 dollars.

Any athletes who emerge victorious from all six meetings will share an additional 500,000 dollars.

The men's events are the 100, 400, 1500 and 3000/5000 metres, the long jump and javelin.

The women's events include the 100, 400, and 3000/5000 metres, the 100 metre hurdles, and the high jump.

The series continues on July 8 in Paris, and includes meetings in Rome, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin.

To win a share of the jackpot, eligible athletes must also compete in the season-capping World Athletics Final in Stuttgart on September 9-10.

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