World record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic champion Justin Gatlin locked hands and posed for photos in prizefight style yesterday ahead of their first meeting since Powell broke Tim Montgomery’s 100-metre record last month.

There were no verbal jabs, however. Powell, a reserved Jamaican, responded to questions in a voice just barely audible. The more outgoing Gatlin, meanwhile, said he does not follow in the lines of the showboating American sprinters of the past.

“We’re not boastful, we just go out and leave everything on the track. He’s humble and someone I respect,” Gatlin said of Powell. “We’re friendly. He’s not someone whose head you want to rip off, but I do want to beat him when we’re on the track.”

Powell is suffering from a slight groin injury and was still to decide if he would take part in today’s Golden Gala, the second meeting in the lucrative Golden League series after last week’s Gaz de France, in which neither Powell or Gatlin competed.

“It’s a little problem. I’m not 100 percent, but hopefully I’ll be all right,” said Powell, who injured himself in the Jamaican trials last month.

Both Gatlin and Powell said they were excited about the budding rivalry, especially since they are about the same age - Gatlin is 23 and Powell is 22. Both runners were born in 1982.

“We are the same age, that’s what makes it more exciting,” Powell said.

Powell ran 9.77 seconds in Athens on 14 June, bettering Montgomery’s record from 2002 by one hundredth of a second.

The 9.85 Gatlin ran at the Olympics remains his best time. Powell finished with a 9.94 at the Olympics.

Former world record holder Maurice Greene recently said he still doubts whether Powell can perform under pressure.

Also scheduled for a star-studded 100-metre field are world champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis, Olympic silver medalist Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, Ronald Pognon, who established a new French national record of 9.99 on Tuesday in Lausanne, and Zakari, who won in Paris.