Powell, Simpson shine but Isinbayeva flops

Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson powered to victory at a super grand prix meeting on Tuesday but pole vault supremo Yelena Isinbayeva was surprisingly upstaged following a lacklustre showing.

Despite enjoying a near perfect start to win the men's 100 metres in 9.86 seconds in Stockholm, Powell never came close to breaking his own world record time of 9.77 set in Athens in 2005.

He swept past second-placed American Tyson Gay (9.97) while Marcus Brunson finished third (10.09).

"It felt like an easy and comfortable win," said Powell, who shares the world 100 record with American Justin Gatlin.

"I've been running nine-eights all season and that's what I came here to do.

"All I worried about was running against the clock. I didn't mind anyone in the race."

In the women's 200 Simpson equalled this year's best time of 22.00 seconds to beat American Sanya Richards (22.35) into second place. Bahamas's Debbie Ferguson was third (22.59). Simpson clocked 22.00 in Rome earlier this month.

American Allyson Felix, the event's world champion, finished only fifth (22.71).

Poland's Monika Pyrek caused the biggest upset of the evening when she relegated Isinbayeva to second place in the women's pole vault.

The Russian only managed to clear 4.62 metres, which was well short of her world record clearance of 5.01.

Pyrek also failed to go any higher but triumphed having cleared the height in an earlier attempt.

The loss did not worry Isinbayeva ahead of next month's European championships in Gothenburg.

"It was a little bit difficult because of the head wind, which made it hard to concentrate," the Olympic and world champion said.

"4.62 is obviously very low for me but this will motivate me for the future."