Xavier Carter (right) hits the tape ahead of Asafa Powell from Jamaica, to win the 200-metre dash during the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet in Eugene, Oregon, yesterday. Carter won with a time of 20.23 seconds, while Powell took third in 20.55 seconds. - AP

EUGENE, Oregon (AP):

Xavier Carter surged ahead at the finish to top a talent-laden 200-metre field that included world 100-metre record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic and world 400-metre champion Jeremy Wariner on a misty, overcast Sunday at the Prefontaine Classic athletics meet.

Jamaican Melaine Walker won the women's 400 hurdles in 54.14 seconds, fastest in the world this year.

In the mile, Kenyan Daniel Komen ran the fastest time ever in the United States, winning in three minutes, 48.28 seconds. Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat, now running for the United States, was second in 3:50.56 at Hayward Field.

College programme

Carter, winner of an unprecedented 100-400 double at last year's national college championships in the United States, struggled early this year, his first without the discipline of a college programme.

"It was a wake-up call," he said.

But he put it together during the last 15 metres to edge Wallace Spearmon, the reigning U.S. champion and runner-up at the 2005 World Championships.

With the race run into a headwind, the winning time was an unspectacular 20.23 seconds, well off Walter Dix's world-leading 19.69. Spearmon finished in 20.25.

The heralded match-up between Powell and Wariner didn't amount to much. Powell was third at 20.55 and Wariner a distant sixth in 20.78.

An enthusiastic standing room-only crowd of 13,244 watched the meet, part of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) grand prix circuit.

They cheered most loudly for Maria Mutola of Mozambique, who won the Prefontaine women's 800 for the 15th straight year, with a world-leading time of 1:58.33. Mutola, who once lived in nearby Springfield, hopes to add a 16th before she retires next year.

Slow time

They saw American sensation Sanya Richards make her season debut in the 400 metres, winning in a relatively slow 50.74 seconds.

The previous fastest mile in the United States was 3:49.92 by Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj at Hayward Field in 2001.

Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang ignored a crashing Dominique Arnold in the next lane to win the 110-metre hurdles in 13.23 seconds, well off his world record of 12.88.

The best race of the day might have been the 800, where American Nick Symmonds caught Olympic gold medalist Yuri Borzakovskiy over the final few metres to win in 1:44.54 seconds. Borzakovskiy was second at 1:44.71.

Olympic bronze medallist and reigning African champion, Paul Koech of Kenya, ran away from the competition to win the 3,000-metre steeplechase in 8:8.10 seconds, a Hayward Field record and second-fastest in the worldthis year. It is surpassed only by Koech's 8:01.05, set two weeks ago in Hengelo, Netherlands.

Gelete Burka of Ethiopia won the women's 1,500 in 4:00.48, with Russian Yuliya Chizhenko-Fomenko at 4:02.98. They were the world's two fastest times in this young season.