• Diamond League, Zurich

Blake baits Powell ahead of Zurich meet

Yohan Blake stormed to victory in Daegu © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: British team crash out as Jamaicans storm to gold
  
• News: Usain Bolt disqualified from 100m final, Blake wins
  
• News: Injured Powell out of World Championships 100m
  

Newly-crowned 100m world champion Yohan Blake has hit back at claims by fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell that he is just a "boy".

Powell missed the world championships in South Korea through injury, while favourite Usain Bolt was disqualified in the final for a false start, clearing the way for Blake's shock victory.

"He called me a boy but I'm running like a big man. It will be interesting [in Zurich]," said 21-year-old Blake.

The pair are due to go head-to-head at the upcoming Diamond League finals meet in Switzerland, and while Powell had the better of Blake at the recent Jamaican trials, there is no doubt he feels the world championships were an opportunity missed.

Powell told the BBC World Service: "Going into Daegu I was the man to beat, I was the man with the fastest time in the world this year. To not be able to run, I was very very disappointed.

"It was difficult to take because I won the Jamaican trials quite comfortably, quite easily. To know the same guys I finished in front of went and got the gold medal, it made me look at things and think, 'If I was there I might be world champion'.

"I always ask, 'Why me? Why does this keep happening over and over?'. [But] I'm very strong. It gives me a lot more motivation for the 2012 Olympics in London - and a lot more rest."

While Powell bemoaned his injury woes, Blake says he has been enjoying the fame that comes with being a world champion.

"Life has been good," Blake said. "I can hardly walk some places but it's a wonderful feeling. I've been dreaming for this my whole life. I'm learning how to deal with it now.

"Things have changed for me. I have come to reality now that I am the world champion. It's not difficult to motivate myself, I've been running with these guys a lot. I know what I'm up against I want to execute a perfect race and stay number one."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.