Powell: Gay's absence doesn't matter

Asafa Powell insists the absence of the injured Tyson Gay will make no difference to his plans to produce a second world-class performance in four days at the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday.

Powell, who clocked a season's best of 9.88 seconds on Tuesday to defeat fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt who succeeded him as world record holder at the end of May, is itching for a repeat performance.

The Commonwealth champion had no problems in his rematch with Gay after the American defeated him for the world title in Osaka when he panicked in the final 10m and threw away his hopes of the gold medal.

"We can't stay away from each other, we need to meet on the track and race," said Powell about Gay after his superb display in Stockholm's 1912 Olympic stadium.

"If you know someone is better than you, hiding from them won't make it better," said Powell.

"To run together as much as possible is no problem."

Powell believes the absence of Gay from the Crystal Palace meeting with a hamstring injury, although disappointing for the British fans, will not affect the quality of his race.

"Tyson not running, makes no difference to me," said Powell, who last September posted a sensational world record of 9.74secs which was lowered when Bolt took two hundredths of a second from it at the Reebok New York Grand Prix.

Powell, whose summer season was delayed by a shoulder injury, believes he is now again approaching the form which made him the world's fastest man and has seen him achieve 37 times below 10 seconds.

The Caribbean ace admitted he feared for his Olympics participation because of the injury.

"I got very nervous with the shoulder injury and I thought to myself my Olympic Games is over," he said.

"Now I'm still running 9.88secs so I'm content."

Powell, who believes he could have gone quicker in Stockholm, revealed: "I forgot what it takes to run a fast race - I was trying too hard and I do better when I don't try too hard."

Despite Gay's absence from Crystal Palace there are still several sub-10 second sprinters in the field, prompting the suggestion the 25-year-old preacher's son could claim back his world record.

"Of course it's possible - but I've never once gone onto a track thinking about a world record," said Powell.

With his last one coming in his qualifying heat in Rieti, he admitted: "So I always surprise myself when I do it."

Powell is not even thinking about winning on Friday.

"It won't mean a thing - what is important to all of us is what happens in Beijing next month," he said.

"Going away with two wins - I'm used to that, but it won't make a big difference to me because anything can happen at the Olympic Games."

Craig Pickering and Tyrone Edgar will lead the British challenge but Simeon Williamson, also chosen for Team GB for Beijing, sits out the meeting after picking up a minor injury earlier in the week.

Bolt, despite being the world's fastest man, still has to decide whether to run the Olympic 100m or compete over 200m which he admits is his favourite event.

The 21-year-old former world junior champion's decision could come after his outing over the half-lap distance at the London meeting's second day on Saturday.

Bolt, who will be defending his London title, said: "My coach