Powell and Jones win Golden League sprints

PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) Joint world record holder Asafa Powell displayed his dominance in the men's 100 metres and Marion Jones successfully continued her comeback with victory in the women's event at a Golden League meeting today.

After delaying proceedings by false starting, Jamaican Powell built a clear lead 30 metres into the race and won in 9.85 seconds, smashing the meeting record of 9.96 seconds shared by former world record holders Leroy Burrell and Maurice Greene, and Namibia's Frank Fredericks.

Powell finished more than 0.2 seconds ahead of runner-up Marcus Brunson of the US ''It was just okay,'' said Powell, who last month equalled the world record of 9.77 seconds he shares with American Justin Gatlin. ''I was hoping for something more. But the only mistake I made tonight was my false start.'' In the women's race, a powerful second half propelled former triple Olympic champion Jones to victory over Jamaican Sherone Simpson in 10.92 seconds.

Jones, whose form slumped after having a child in 2003, produced her best performance since winning in 10.90 at the IAAF World Cup in Madrid in September 2002.

Five world best performances of the year were produced on an ideal evening in front of 60,000 spectators at the Stade de France.

The most impressive was from world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, who won the 400 metres by more than a second from Andrew Rock in a career best time of 43.91.

The 21-year-old had made up the stagger on the entire field by the midway point of the race for his second sub-44 second performance.

'FELT EASY' ''It felt easy,'' said Wariner, who trains under world record holder Michael Johnson's old coach Clyde Hart.

''With the way my training's been going, I can hopefully get down to the mid 43s by the end of this year. There may be a chance I can go 43.3,'' added Wariner.

Johnson, whose world record stands at 43.18, and Butch Reynolds are the only two athletes to have run faster than that.

Yuliya Chizhenko, the world indoor 1,500 metres champion, held off the late charge of fellow Russian Yelena Soboleva to win the event in three minutes 55.68 seconds, the fastest performance in nearly three years.

Soboleva, the world record holder indoors, was second in 3:56.43 seconds, the season's second fastest time.

Two-times world champion Tatyana Tomashova of Russia was a distant fourth.

Making her debut outside this season, pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva won her event with a jump of 4.76 metres, adding one centimetre to the previous year's best set by Monika Pyrek of Poland.

Isinbayeva, 24, took only four jumps during the competition, before missing three attempts at 4.86.

French record holder Vanessa Boslak was second with 4.61.

Ethiopia's world record holder Kenenisa Bekele put last month's Golden League defeat in Oslo behind him with victory in the 5,000 metres in 12:51.32 and American Terrence Trammell won the 110 metres hurdles in 13.06.

REUTERS PDS RAI0132