Big three set for Rome showdown

WORLD 100 metres record holder Asafa Powell will take on Olympic champions Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford as well as world sprint champion Kim Collins in a world-class 100m in Rome on July 8.

Powell, who set the new mark of 9.77 seconds in Athens earlier this month, will throw down the gauntlet to Olympic sprint champion Gatlin at the Golden League just a month prior to the World Championships.

The pair met in the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon earlier this month where both athletes clocked 9.84secs but Gatlin was declared the winner.

Crawford won the 200m at the Games last year and was part of the 4x100m squad that was beaten to the gold medal by Great Britain.

The 27-year-old is currently competing with Gatlin at the USA world championship trials in California.

Collins, of St Kitts and Nevis, is the defending world champion and finished sixth in last year's Olympic final with all those in front of him recording sub 10-second runs.

Also competing in the sprint at the Borotalco Golden Gala will be Ghana's Aziz Zakari, who recorded 9.99secs behind Powell when the Jamaican set his world mark, world 200m champion John Capel and Ronald Pognon, who beat Mark Lewis-Francis at last weekend's European Cup in Florence.