ATHENS, Greece -- Asafa Powell set a world record in the men's 100 meters Tuesday, clocking 9.77 seconds at the Tsiklitiria Super Grand Prix meeting.

The Jamaican, who finished fifth at the 2004 Athens Games, shaved one hundredth of a second off Tim Montgomery's record of 9.78 set in Paris in 2002.

"This goes to show that the no one knows how fast a man can run," a smiling Powell told reporters. "I am just happy to have set the record on a track where Maurice Greene also broke the world record."

American Greene set a record in 1999 when he ran 9.79 seconds in the same stadium, which hosted the Summer Olympics last year.

Montgomery's record already was at risk because he faces doping charges. The previous record was 9.79 set by Maurice Greene in Athens in 1999.

Powell, 22, already had the world's fastest time this year, a run of 9.84 seconds at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 8. He also ran a 9.85 on June 9 in the Czech Republic.

Montgomery finished fifth out of six in the 100 meters with a time of 10.43 seconds Saturday at a meet in Mexico.



any fans of track and field?

I think it's fairly safe to say we know how fast a human can run.

How fast is that?

100 meters in about 9.8 seconds. Give or take a few hundreths of a second.

I could beat that any day.

Maybe you should race Balki.

This guy was obviously using performance-"enhancing" drugs. He is from Jamaica, after all.

That, and it was wind-aided.

Exactly.

Yeah man, he was "breathing air" all night before the race.

It was a real mellow wind.

seriously how the hell can you tell what .01 second means? Can anyone really say they're the fastest? You stick out your tongue and that's .01 seconds. I think track and field is interesting but the sprinters are just annoying anymore.

Mixed tenses and poor grammar. Tsk, tsk.

It's pretty cool to see someone go that fast. Even if he was on something it's still quite the feat.

It would be interesting to see who actually runs the fastest as opposed to the fastest time.

e.g. In 1996, Donovan Bailey got off to a brutal start... he was dead last for the first 20-30 meters and it wasn't even close. He caught up at an amazing race... I'm sure his actual top speed is unbelieveable.

An average of 23 MPH, starting from a complete stop, across 100 M. Any other questions?

Isn't this widely considered the most prestigious record in all of sports?

coined the: "Fastest Human"

They actually average a faster speed in the 200. Michael Johnson's 200 record set in 1996 is 19.32 - an average of 9.66 per 100 meters.

I've been to the US Track trials a couple of times. It is amazing to see someone run that fast in person.

That means nothing... they don't have to start twice in the 200. It would be like running one 100 meter race from a normal start and one with a running start.