In the absence of his two main rivals Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell of Jamaica ran under 10 seconds to win the men's 100m sprint in 9.72 seconds at the IAAF Diamond League third stop here on Friday evening.
While his winning time matched his fastest ever, it was not admissible for record purposes as the wind was measured at 2.1 meters per second, a little over the allowable limit of 2.0m/s.
Still, Powell has every reason to celebrate as he flexed his muscles and smiled for the crowd who clapped and cheered him on his lap of honour.
On a warm evening, conditions were good for the sprints. Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson kept in contention with the Jamaican to record 9.90, and Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles finished third in 9.92.
Powell's Jamaican colleague Michael Frater was the fourth man under ten seconds, clocking 9.97.
At his opening Diamond League meeting in Doha a fortinight ago, Powell had also seen swift times eradicated for record purposes by the following wind.
On May 14, he won the race in 9.81 seconds with a following wind of 2.3 meters per second, after running an extraordinary semifinal time of 9.75, with wind assistance of 2.6 meters per second.
For the greatest race of all time, Maurice Greene set the significant world record of 9.79 seconds 10 years ago, the first sub-9.80 performance. yet Greene's best time has slipped to 17th on the all-time rankings.
Since 2005, the trio of Bolt, Gay and Powell, have between them run the 16 quickest 100m marks in history. Bolt has been the main headline-maker, with world records of 9.69 and 9.58 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 Berlin World Championships, but Gay, with 9.69, and Powell, with 9.72, are the second and third fastest men to have worn spikes.
Powell has beaten it seven times, Bolt five, and Gay four. And people are hoping to see them race each other more often.
In 2009, Bolt and Gay met only at the World Championships in what turned out to be the dream podium: Bolt, Gay and Powell.
On the World Athletics Tour, Bolt raced Powell only twice, in London and Zurich, winning both. The Diamond League is designed to encourage more head-to-heads, such as the frequent encounters between Gay and Powell. They clashed in WAT races in Rome, Stockholm, Brussels, Thessaloniki (World Athletics Final) and Shanghai, as well as in Daegu.
Gay defeated Powell at all except Brussels. In Shanghai, Gay set an American record 9.69, having equalled it in Rome. With his 9.71 at the World Championships thrown in, Gay recorded three of the four fastest times of the year in 2009.