Powell sees off Bolt in Stockholm

Powell (left) prevailed by the smallest of margins over his compatriot

Asafa Powell beat fellow Jamaican and world record holder Usain Bolt in the battle of the world's fastest men at Tuesday's Grand Prix in Stockholm.

Powell, who saw Bolt take his record in June, eased home in 9.88 seconds, one hundredth of a second ahead of Bolt.

Powell was quickest out the blocks but had to hold off a late charge from his younger compatriot for a third straight win in Stockhom and a season's best.

Third place went to promising Norwegian sprinter Jaysuma Saidy Ndure in 10.06.

It was some measure of revenge for the 25-year-old Powell after losing to his close friend Bolt, 21, at Jamaica's Olympic trials last month.

"I was really happy with the race," said Powell. "My goal was to win. My start was quick and fast. And the speed stayed with me through the finish.

"I'm really looking forward to the Olympics."

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The two will be at Crystal Palace this week, along with American Tyson Gay, in what is likely to be their last outings before Beijing.

Powell will take on Gay over 100m on Friday, while Bolt is running the 200m.

"I am very excited about it," Powell added. "I made a couple of mistakes tonight, but I got to run with Usain. It is good to see his strongest points and see what I have to work on to make sure he doesn't catch me again."

In the men's 110m hurdles, Dayron Robles continued his purple patch by winning in a magnificent 12.91 seconds, just 0.03 seconds slower than his six-week-old world record.

Meseret Defar, running against the clock, brought the 22,000 capacity crowd to their feet when she narrowly missed fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba's 5,000m world record, finishing with the second fastest ever time of 14 minutes 12.88 seconds.

Russia's pole vault supremo Yelena Isinbayeva was not quite at her best but easily won by clearing 4.85m on her second attempt, before failing to clear 4.95m.

Croatian Blanka Vlasic won her 34th meeting in a row by clearing 2.02m in the women's high jump but then failed to get over 2.05m.