for his MVP team. Powell next competed at the Sydney Track Classic in Australia on 28 February, again running the anchor leg in the 4 x 100 m relay and winning it in a new world leading time of 38.62 s. Two hours later, he ran a 400 m race, finishing 4th in a new personal best 45.94 s and shaving 1.23 s off his previous best time. After the 400 m race, Powell said: Five days later, Powell ran his first 100 m race of the season. Competing at the Melbourne Track Classic he ran a world leading 10.23 s, wind measuring −1.4 m/s on the coldest day of the year to date. On 16 April, Powell was nominated for the Laureus World Team of the Year award, as a member of the 2008 Jamaica Olympic Sprint Team. Powell then found himself involved in controversy when he was a last-minute "no show" at the UTech Track and Field Classic on 18 April. He had previously been advertised to run the 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay races. Powell attended as a spectator. A press conference called three days later by the MVP Track Club did not fully answer questions as to why Powell did not compete. The matter was reported to the Jamaica Fair Trading Commission which started investigations on 23 April. Powell was next to run at the Penn Relays on 25 April, but on the morning of the event, the Jamaica Observer reported that he had withdrawn from the 4 × 100 m relay. His manager Paul Doyle stated that Powell would not run due to concerns with his ankle while running the curve on the Franklin Field track. The Jamaica Observer cited a "highly placed source" when reporting that Powell had turned his ankle in training at Utech. Despite the report, Powell ran the anchor leg of the relay but aggravated the ankle injury, pulled up and finished ninth in 41.24 s. Scheduled to run at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Doha on 8 May, Powell withdrew from the event, citing the need for sufficient time for his injured ankle to properly heal. He finished seventh in his first event returning from injury, the Reebok Grand Prix held in New York at Icahn Stadium on 30 May. When interviewed he stated that his ankle was very weak but not painful. He finished second