Sprinter Gay blazes to victory in Lausanne

American sprint champion Tyson Gay overcame cold and blustery conditions on Tuesday night to put in another fiery performance in the 200 metres.

Gay, the newly-crowned national champion in both the 100 and 200 metres, shrugged off the cool conditions at Lausanne's Athletissima Super Grand Prix meeting to finish in 19.78 seconds, ahead of second-placed Jamaican Usain Bolt (20.11).

The 24-year-old from Kentucky was just 0.14 seconds off his personal best despite temperatures more suited to figure skating.

"It was cold but once I got in the blocks I just blocked it from my mind," said Gay who had complained of a slight knee injury before the meeting.

"I was more surprised at my time than at winning the race because I am not 100 per cent right now. But I didn't think about the knee or anything. I just tried to run as hard as I could."

Gay's biggest international rival, Asafa Powell, was in limited action on Tuesday with the Jamaican 100-metre world record holder competing only in the 4x100 relay as he recovered from a groin injury.

Powell helped Jamaica to a narrow win over Britain, running the final leg to snatch victory by 0.03 seconds.

China's Xiang Liu, who suffered a rare defeat at last Friday's Paris Golden League meeting, bounced back to claim the 110-metre hurdles in 13.01 seconds.

Though never looking likely to break the world record he set here last year, Liu did enough to see off a late challenge from America's Anwar Moore who crossed the line 0.11 seconds back.

World 3,000 metres steeplechase record holder and double world champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar will miss August's world championships in Japan because of a knee injury. He had planned to compete in the steeplechase and 5,000m at Osaka but has been unable to train properly. Shaheen set the steeplechase world record of 7:53.63 in 2004.