The Jamaican had vowed to break his world record by the end of the season to make up for his disappointing performance at the recent World Athletics Championships in Osaka. In Japan, Powell, a heavily-backed favourite, could only finish in bronze medal position behind American rival Tyson Gay and the Bahamas’ Derrick Adams. It was the second time he had failed to deliver in a major championship.

But Powell put the pain of that defeat behind him and delivered on his promise as he clocked a stunning 9.74 seconds in his 100 metres heat at the international meeting in Rieti, shaving 0.03 seconds off his own world record. Amazingly, he even seemed to be easing down at the finish of the race to conserve energy for the final later in the evening, a race he also won easily in 9.78 seconds.

The world’s fastest men

The 100 metres world record has long been considered the holy grail of athletics with its various holders basking in the glory of being the “fastest man on the planet”. Until recent years, the record has been the exclusive property of American sprinters. 100-metre legends Calvin Smith (9.93), Carl Lewis (9.92) and Leroy Burrell (9.85) all held the record, their dominance only disturbed by Canadian Ben Johnson (9.79) whose achievements were struck from the record books after he was thrown out of the sport for steroid abuse.

American champ Maurice Greene legitimately lowered the record to 9.79 seconds in 1999. Greene, who won the 100 metres at the Sydney Olympics, has also run more sub-10 second 100 metres (52) than any other athlete. But Powell surpassed Greene’s record in 2005 with a time of 9.77 seconds, a time he has run on three separate occasions. Despite his failures at the major events, no one can dispute that his new world record of 9.74 seconds makes him the fastest man on the planet.