Asafa Powell (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter who currently holds the 100 m world record with a time of 9.74 seconds.

Asafa Powell planned to be an engineer before he took up running whilst studying in Kingston, Jamaica.[2] His elder brother Donovan was a 100 m semi-finalist in the 1999 World Championships.[3]

Powell first came to the attention of the athletics world at the 2003 world championships when he suffered the ignominy of being 'the other athlete' disqualified for a false start in the quarter-final where Jon Drummond memorably refused to leave the track having suffered the same fate (both athletes moving less than 0.1 seconds after gun firing).

The following season, Powell did not perform to his usual standards for the 2004 Olympic 100 m in Athens, after clocking sub-10 seconds times a record-equalling nine times in a season. He placed fifth in the 100 m final, and subsequently pulled out of the 200 m final, for which he had already qualified earlier on.

The following year, he gained some consolation by breaking the 100 m world record, in Athens on June 14, 2005, setting a time of 9.77 s, beating American Tim Montgomery's 2002 record of 9.78 s (which was later annulled due to doping charges against Montgomery) by just one one-hundredth of a second. Coincidentally, Powell achieved the feat on the same track as Maurice Greene's 1999 world record of 9.79 s. Wind assistance for Powell was measured at 1.6 m/s, within the IAAF legal limit of 2.0 m/s.

Powell won the 2006 Commonwealth Games title easily after a drama-filled semi-final which saw two disqualifications, three false starts and Powell himself running into another competitor's lane while looking at the scoreboard (he was held not to have impeded the other runner).

Powell then equaled his world record time on June 11, 2006 at Gateshead International Stadium with a time of 9.77 (+1.5 m/s). August 18, 2006, Powell ran the world record time of 9.77 (+1.0 m/s) for the third time in Zürich, Switzerland. Together with Jeremy Wariner (400 m) and Sanya Richards (400 m) he won his sixth out of six IAAF Golden League events (100 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of $250,000. On November 12, 2006 he was awarded the title of 2006 Male World Athlete of the Year along with a cheque of $100,000.

Powell finished 3rd in the 2007 World Championship final in Osaka, Japan behind Tyson Gay, who won in a time of 9.85 seconds, and was Powell's biggest rival building up to the championships. Derrick Atkins, a reported second cousin of Powell's, came second in 9.91. Powell finished in a time of 9.96 seconds into a 0.5 m/s headwind after being passed by Gay and Atkins in the late stages of the race. Later, Powell did help to win a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m. Running the anchor leg of the Jamaican relay team, he came from fifth and nipped Great Britain at the line with a Jamaican national record of 37.89, while USA took the gold.

On September 9, 2007, in opening heats of the IAAF Rieti Grand Prix in Rieti, Italy, Powell ran a new world record time of 9.74 s (+1.7 m/s) in the 100 m, fulfilling the promise he had made earlier. He had said after his bronze medal in Osaka that he would break the record by the end of the year to make up for the disappointment of not becoming world champion.[4] Remarkably, Powell eased up in the final few metres of his record-setting race, indicating that he was saving his strength for a fast 100 m final at the same meet.[5] In the final, Powell ran 9.78 (0 m/s), the fastest 100 m ever when adjusted for wind assistance and altitude.[6]

Powell has run 100 m in under 10 seconds 33 times [7], a record to date bettered only by Maurice Greene, who has run under 10 seconds 52 times.[8] Powell is the only man to have run legally under 9.80 seconds more than once, having done so five times, and is the only man to have run legally under 10.00 seconds 12 times in a single season