The fastest underdog in the world bit back last night as Asafa Powell stopped the Usain Bolt bandwagon from rolling into Beijing with possession of sprinting’s bragging rights.

In a race of fine margins and broad scope in Stockholm, Powell won the all-Jamaican duel by one hundredth of a second. His time of 9.88sec was not enough to earn him a diamond for a stadium record, but it may prove priceless with regards to his mentality come the Olympic final.

Powell was the world record-holder at 100 metres until Bolt came along and shook up the world order in New York two months ago. Suddenly there was a new phenomenon on the blocks and Powell, whose season has been undermined by a shoulder injury, looked vulnerable.

Beaten by Bolt at the Jamaican trials, he arrived in Sweden for the DN Galan Super Grand Prix with vultures circling. However, he said he relished the role of underdog and responded with a lightning start to stick two fingers up to those who have questioned his mental fortitude.

For many, the 100 metres is a devalued event, which is a crying shame because athletics has never had it so good. The three protagonists in the race for Olympic gold all have stories to tell. There is Powell, who survived his father being shot in the face while he held his young son in his arms, and Tyson Gay, who won three gold medals at last year’s World Championships in Japan despite his coach being in jail at the time for theft and embezzlement.

The most stunning tale of all, though, is that of Bolt, who still labours under the belief that he is a 200 metres specialist despite rewriting the 100 metres record books. Last year the sprinting world gulped when Powell lowered the world record to 9.74 on Rieti’s fabled fast track, but it almost choked on its disbelief when Bolt ran 9.72 in New York two months ago.

This was Bolt’s first defeat of the year and Powell improved his season’s best by two hundredths of a second.

He said that there is much more to come and there will need to be. Both Bolt and Gay have gone quicker - 9.72 and 9.77 respectively. All three will be in action at the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday, when Powell takes on Gay at the shorter sprint while Bolt goes in the 200 metres.

Powell and Bolt were not the only big names vying for preBeijing fillips last night. Sanya Richards, the undisputed favourite to win 400 metres gold in Beijing, clocked 50.38 to win the quarter-mile. It was a time that will not intimidate Britain’s world champion, Christine Ohuruogu.

Another duel coming to the boil is the attempt by Dayron Robles to deny China an almighty knees-up, courtesy of Liu Xiang’s ability to get his knees up in the 110 metres hurdles. The Cuban, having wrested the world record from Liu, underlined his ascendancy by recording 12.91 last night.

The odds on Phillips Idowu grabbing gold for Britain in the triple jump shortened when Christian Olsson, the champion in Athens, suffered a hamstring injury on his fourth jump and, to the distress of his home crowd, promptly announced that he had “no chance” of being fit for Beijing.

Tom Parsons, of Britain, finished fifth in the high jump and Jo Pavey ran her best time for two years in the 5,000 metres, finishing third in 14min 58.62sec.

Tickets for the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Friday and Saturday are available on 0800 0556056 or online at ukathletics.net