Powell wants absent Gatlin's London record

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) Asafa Powell intends breaking Justin Gatlin's meeting record at today's London grand prix after the man with whom he shares the 100 metres world record pulled out of their highly anticipated showdown.

Jamaican Powell has run under 10 seconds eight times this year and is confident of going under the 9.89 clocked by Gatlin at Crystal Palace last year.

''Yeah, I should break it,'' the 23-year-old told reporters yesterday. ''If I go in there tomorrow feeling good, I'll just blow it away.

''I've been running 9.8s, so I'm in near perfect shape,'' added Powell, who is also keen to take sole ownership of the world record.

His mark of 9.77, set last year, was matched by Gatlin in Doha in May. Powell equalled it again last month in Gateshead, England and the time was ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations yesterday.

American world and Olympic champion Gatlin withdrew from the London meeting this month because of a knee injury, which also prevented him running in Athens and Lausanne.

Powell will face Britain's Dwain Chambers, who was stripped of the 2002 European title for doping and needs to prove his fitness before this year's championships in Sweden, which start on August 7.

A fast time can also be expected in the men's 200 metres with the latest American sprint sensation, Xavier Carter, threatening to break 20 seconds.

The 20-year-old hit the headlines at the Lausanne grand prix earlier this month when he clocked 19.63 for the second fastest 200 metres in history.

''I plan on breaking 20 again, if not another personal record,'' Carter said.

The two fastest women in the world this year, former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones and Jamaica's Sherone Simpson, line up in the 100 metres.

Jones, has found her form this season after having a son with ex-partner Tim Montgomery in 2003 and coming under scrutiny in connection with the BALCO doping scandal even though she has never failed a doping test and has denied taking banned substances.

Russia's world pole vault record holder Yelena Isinbayeva returns to the scene of her first competitive five metre clearance four days after suffering only her second defeat in the last two years.

Isinbayeva, who broke the world record twice at last year's Crystal Palace meeting with vaults of 4.96 and 5.00 metres, will not face her conqueror in Sweden Monika Pyrek of Poland.

The world and Olympic champion could only manage 4.62, well short of her 5.01 record, and lost out to Pyrek on countback.

Isinbayeva's previous defeat was last September in Yokohama, Japan when she failed to register a height.

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