BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A race that many sports enthusiasts expected a close finish between Caribbean legends Kim Collins and Asafa Powell never materialized, as the local icon faded in his bid for indoor glory.
Running in the Finals of the of the 60m at the World Indoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon last evening (Mar. 18), Collins never got the start he needed to compete for the gold medal. He was late out of the blocks and never caught up with the top contenders in the pack as he finished eighth with a time of 6.56 seconds.
That time was way below his performance in Heat One and the Semi-Finals at Oregon Convention Center earlier in the day.
Controversy arose upon completion of that race, which was won by American Trayvon Bromell in a time of 6.47 seconds, but later corrected.
The computers in the arena automatically registered Collins as winning the silver medal even though the photo finish showed him clearly behind the pack, which saw organizers scampering to correct the official results six minutes later.
In the corrected results, Jamaican Asafa Powell, who was the favourite to win the event, again folded under pressure to cop the silver medal after initially being registered as finishing eighth in 6.50 seconds.
Barbadian Ramon Gittens rounded out the podium finishers in 6.51 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Collins opened his account in Heat One of the 60m sprint when he blazed the track to win his first race in 6.56 seconds, while his compatriot, Antoine Adams, finished in fourth place in his Heat but was fast enough to qualify for the Semi-Finals.
Adams was again slow on the track and failed to make it to the Semi-Finals in which he placed fifth with a much reduced time of 6.66 seconds.
On the other hand, Collins was not letting up as he blazed down the track in 6.49 seconds, leaving his much younger competitors to fan his dust.
