SUMMER OF ATHLETICS BEGINS14 May:1700-1900 BST live on BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website (UK users only)15 May:1710 BST on BBC Two and iplayer for seven days after (UK users only)16 May:1000-1130 BST and 1630-1800 BST live on BBC Two and BBC Sport website (UK users only)19 May: Usain Bolt’s season debut at Daegu Pre-Championships, South Korea 1055-1345 BST live on BBC Red Button (UK users only)
Asafa Powell says he can lower Usain Bolt’s 100m world record as he prepares for the inaugural IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday.
The new 14-event global series replaces the Golden League with Jamaica’s Bolt first competing in Shanghai on 23 May.
On his compatriot’s record time of 9.58 seconds, Powell said: "It’s something I’m confident I can go below."
British 400m star Christine Ohuruogu will run in Qatar, while London and Gateshead also host during the summer.
Michael Rimmer (800m) and Stephanie Twell (1500m) complete the line-up of Britons in Doha.
I’d like some opinion on other potential rivalry for this coming outdoor season
Kenyans Moses Masai, Bernard Kiplagat and Micah Kogo will not race in the 5,000m after being injured in a car accident in Kenya while travelling to the airport on Wednesday, although their condition was described as "not serious".
Having clocked world record marks of 9.77 in 2005 and 9.74 in 2007, Powell is keen on reclaiming the world record after trailing in third behind the winner Bolt at the world championships in Berlin last year.
"I’ve been feeling good so far since the start of the year so I’m thinking positive," added the 27-year-old, whose lifetime best of 9.72, set in Lausanne two years ago, is the joint-fifth fastest in history.
"I’ll be going out there to give my best and if my best is better than the world record I’ll be happy. Although Usain is the main man right now, I’m still there and I’m running very well.
"I have nothing to be worrying about, just to try and compete and run very fast."
Total prize money for the 14 meetings will top US$6.63m (£4.47m) and, along with promotional fees, will be used to set up a number of mouth-watering head-to-heads with the sport’s biggest stars engaged with central contracts.
Olympic and world champion Bolt is scheduled to make seven appearances on the circuit, with his first in China, and is likely to meet close rival and world silver medallist Tyson Gay at least three times.
At least one from Bolt, Gay or Powell will be scheduled to run at every Diamond League meeting.
She’s extremely talented, she has experience. She’s a great competitor
The new circuit was devised by the world governing body (IAAF) in an attempt to rejuvenate interest in athletics, which is facing increased competition from other sports, and in an economic climate of dwindling income.
Other innovations in the new league will see athletes from 32 different events taking part, with all disciplines having equal prize money. Each meeting will have prize money of $416,000 (£250,000).
There will also be a IAAF ‘Diamond Race’ in each event, with points available throughout the season.
Athletes with the most points at the end of the series will be awarded a four-carat diamond worth around $80,000 (£49,000).
The action will take place across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States, with Britain hosting two events (Gateshead on 11 July and London on 13/14 August) in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.
Despite the withdrawal of injured 400m world champion Sanya Richards-Ross, Britain’s Ohuruogu, gold medallist in Beijing in 2008, will still have a tough task in the one-lap race.
The 25-year-old Londoner was only fifth in Berlin last summer after an injury-disrupted preparation and will face world indoor champion Debbie Dunn, Olympic and World Championship silver medallist Shericka Williams and three-time world 200m champion Allyson Felix.
At the start of a season that also includes the Barcelona European Championships in July, Felix does not feel Ohuruogu should not be feeling any added pressure.
"It’s always difficult coming off injury," the American said. "I wouldn’t say Christine has something to prove, but I’m sure she just wants to get back to where she was and even beyond leading up to London 2012.
"She’s extremely talented, she has experience. She’s a great competitor."
Other stars in action on Friday are Croatia’s world champion Blanka Vlasic (high jump), world champion Kerron Clement (400m hurdles) and pole vaulting world and Olympic champion Steve Hooker.
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