subsequently set a 100 m world leading time of 9.83 s. En route to this performance, he also set the rarely run 100 yards dash world best at 9.07 s, beating the previous record of 9.21 s set by Charlie Greene. Powell next competed at the DKF Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, where he powered to a splendid victory with a wind-aided 9.72 s. A week later, he competed at the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy, where he overcame a very poor reaction time at the start to take another victory in a World Leading time of 9.82 s. It was reported that Powell ended his six-year contract with leading sports brand Nike due to sponsorship problems, and rumours spread that he has a new contract with fast upcoming Chinese sports brand Li-Ning. Asafa next competed in the 200 m of the Jamaican Senior Trials where he won the final in 19.97 s, his second fastest ever. There, for the first time, he promoted his new Li Ning outfit. Powell next competed in Gateshead where he got off to a terrific start but lost to fast finishing Tyson Gay, who took the victory in 9.94 s to Powell's 9.96 s in a strong 1.7 m/s headwind. Powell was not very disappointed as he mentioned that he got too relaxed, thus allowing Gay to outdo him in the final strides. The next race in Paris against Usain Bolt was a disappointing one. Although he had a good start, Bolt caught him at halfway point, and Asafa began to lose his fluent running form. He finished 2nd to Bolt in 9.91 s, 0.07 s slower than his rival and also into a slight headwind. Asafa said that he had a very bad race, which he hoped to improve in his upcoming races. Unfortunately for Powell, there was not a 'next race' for him. He picked up strains from his Paris meeting, which aggravated to hamstring and back problems. Powell missed his next two outings where he was scheduled to clash against Bolt and Gay. Powell ended his splendid 2010 season on a disappointing note, even though he expressed satisfaction on the races that he competed for the year. Asafa opened his 2011 season on 16 April at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. He ran the 200 m where he came in third after what looked to be a good first 140