JOIN USAsafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown completed a Jamaican sprint double at the US Open indoor meet at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
There were no Olympic gold medals on offer but it was an ominous reminder ahead of this year's London Games of the unrivalled strength of Jamaica's crack sprinters. Powell, almost the forgotten man of Jamaican sprinting because of the achievements of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, lunged at the line to win the 50-metre dash in 5.67 seconds, the fastest time in a decade for the rarely-run event. Powell's training partner Nesta Carter was second in 5.67.
Campbell-Brown, who won the 200M gold medal at each of the last two Olympics and was part of the Jamaican relay that won in Beijing four years ago, burst out of the blocks and held on to win the women's 50M dash in 6.08.
The US won the men's and women's hurdles. Terrence Trammell, a former world indoor champion, won the men's race in 6.45 while Lolo Jones won the women's event in 6.78.
Kenya's Silas Kiplagat, the silver medallist in the 1,500M at the World Championships, won the men's mile.