Asafa Powell...Track & Field News magazine's male athlete of the year.- File photo

NEW YORK (Reuters):

Jamaican world record holder Asafa Powell and American sprinter Sanya Richards were named Track & Field News magazine's athletes of the year on Friday.

The 23-year-old Powell twice equalled his 100 metres world record of 9.77 seconds and ran under 10 seconds a record 12 times in 2006.

The Jamaican-born Richards capped an unbeaten 400 metres season with an American record of 48.70 seconds at the IAAF World Cup.

Both Powell and Richards were previously named IAAF athletes of the year.

Powell emerged with a score just three points shy of perfect in the Track & Field News poll conducted among a 35-member panel of international experts.

Voting system

The Jamaican sprint star collected 32 of the votes for No. 1 as he achieved a 99.1 per cent score on the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 voting system.

Fifteen different men received votes. The other two number ones went to discus thrower Virgilius Alekna of Lithuania (two) and China's sprint hurdler Xiang Liu (one).

Like Powell, Richards domin-ated her event in 2006. She earned 33 of the votes for No. 1, the other three going to Ethiopia's Meseret Defar (two) and Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva (one).

Track & Field News is regarded worldwide as the leading publication on the sport.