Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell believes the athletes around the world are getting more technical with each passing day and hence many are able to complete 100m dash within sub 10 seconds.
In the 100m finals at the Rio Olympics six runners ran under-10 seconds. Powell feels it's getting more possible now because of the way the sport is growing every day. "The athletes are getting more technical. The coaches are doing a lot more. The sport has come a long way. Now, eight athletes in the finals who all were capable of going sub 10s," said Powell, who is in the city as the brand ambassador for Sunday's Airtel Delhi Half Marathon's (ADHM).
"A lot has changed and it's going to get better and better as we go further. We know guys from all over the world who can run sub 10s, may be we will have guys from India who can run sub 10s soon," he added.
Powell has ran below 10 seconds for 98 times in 100m dash — the maximum by any sprinter. The 33-year-old wants to achieve the 100th feat in his home country of Jamaica. "It depends on where my next competition is. I would love to do it in Jamaica, not much sure if it's going to take that long," said the sprinter.
Powell held the 100-metre world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds, before Bolt took it over by running 9.58 seconds. Both the existing 100m and 200m world records were set by Bolt while winning gold medals during the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Powell is also not thinking as far as 2020 Olympics yet as he set his primary target for only till 2018. "I am not thinking about 2020 right now, the farthest I will be going is 2018, maybe the Commonwealth Games and that's where I see myself, just two years and not 2020," he explained.
The Jamaican also refrained from commenting on the recent rise in doping sagas, putting the onus on the federations to find a solution.
"I think the federations are doing their job and it's really upto them to really solve that problem," he said.
"The federations are the ones in charge and they should be doing their jobs. I am sure they are fixing all the problems," said the sprinter. Powell represented Jamaica in the 100m at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, where he finished fifth in 2004 and 2008, and was eighth after pulling up injured in london 2012.
Powell also had his say on India's most popular sport — cricket — and how the sport was once famous in Jamaica.
"Cricket was pretty much No1 sport in Jamaica back in the days. All the great cricketers, now like Chris Gayle has done well from Jamaica. It's still big, it's still doing great but now track and field have also changed a lot and I think it's going to get better and hopefully people can pay attention to all the sports," he said.
Earlier on Friday, Puma hosted Powell along with former Indian athletes PT Usha and Milkha Singh at the JlN Stadium here. The Jamaican sprinter and the rest of the Indian sports influencers had a candid discussion highlighting the pivotal role grassroots-level activities play in grooming an athlete from a very nascent stage.
Powell also took part in a race with the young athletes of the Capital City.