Asafa Powell ran a wind-aided 9.72 seconds Friday to win the 100 meters at the Diamond League's first European meet in Oslo. The Jamaican set the year's fastest legal time last week, clocking 9.83 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. His time Friday was assisted by a wind measuring 2.1 meters per second. In the absence of injured world-record holder Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, Powell was never really pushed after cruising through the heats and later said he will be confident the next time he faces his rivals. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago finished second and Churandy Martina took third. Despite a dry track and a vocal crowd, nobody was able to set what would have been the 70th world record at the stadium. David Rudisha won a highly anticipated battle in the 800 against Abubaker Kaki of Sudan. The Kenyan's time of 1:42.04 is the year's fastest and beats the track record set by Sebastian Coe in 1979. Kaki came second in a closely fought race. American athletes performed well at the Diamond League's third stop of a 14-meet series. Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson renewed their rivalry in the 400 hurdles. Clement beating Jackson into second place with a time of 48.12 in a close finish. Carmelita Jeter, a 100-meter specialist, was upgraded to victory in the 200 after Lashauntea Moore was disqualified for a lane violation. Debbie McKenzie-Ferguson of the Bahamas went from third to second and Russia's Alexandra Fedoriva from fourth to third. Christian Cantwell extended his domination in the shot put, throwing 21.31 meters to finish ahead of Dylan Armstrong of Canada and Tomasz Majewski of Poland. Lolo Jones won the 100 hurdles in 12.66, ahead of Canadian pair Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Felicien Perdita. In the women's high jump, reigning world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won ahead of Chaunte Howard-Lowe of the US. Amantle Montsho from Botswana won the women's 400, finishing ahead of Jamaica's Novlene Williams-Mills and Debbie Dunn of the United States. Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu from Great Britain was fourth. The stadium's biggest cheers were reserved for when home-crowd favorite Andreas Thorkildsen won the javelin.
