Asafa Powell of Jamaica lies down on the track injured in London (© Getty Images)
Asafa Powell, who earlier this year broke the World 100m record in a blazing time of 9.77 seconds, went down with a groin injury last Friday night in the 100m final at the Norwich Union Super Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, London. Immediately after the injury was sustained, Powell flew to Munich Germany for treatment from homeopathic specialist Dr. Müller-Wohlfhart.
After a series of MRI and Ultrasound Scans, it was determined that he had a 2.5cm tear in his adductor longus muscle in the region of the Bone-Tendon Junction. His Physiotherapist, Mark Young stated, “The region of tendon that is torn is particularly slow to heal when compared to a tear in the belly of the muscle”.
Dr. Müller-Wohlfhart was initially doubtful that Powell would be ready to run by the 6th of August (100m Heats in Helsinki), and although treatment has gone well and he is on his way back to health, the Doctor is still ruling out the individual 100m in Helsinki.
Powell's agent, Paul Doyle is equally concerned for his possibilities in Helsinki. “It’s the type of situation where if the 100m race was on at the end of the Championships, we would be very optimistic of his chances. Every day and every hour counts in healing an injury like this.”
Powell himself was reluctant to comment but did say that he was “Devastated. You train with one focus all year and to have that taken away leaves you feeling empty. I hope to be able to run the relay in Helsinki and help bring a medal back to Jamaica”.
He has been marked down to run in the Zurich TDK Golden League on the 19 August and has begun negotiations with many other post-Helsinki meets, but Doyle says “Asafa will not step on the track in the relay or any other meet until we are 100% sure he is healed and 100% fit. Zurich will be exactly 4 weeks post-injury, which should be sufficient time to be ready, but we cannot risk any further injury. We will make a decision based on how his training is going as the competitions approach. Asafa needs some time with his coach, Stephen Francis, to be back to top form, and for the better part of 6 weeks, coach Francis has only been able to do rehab work with Asafa.”
Brigitte O’Callahan for the IAAF
