FORMER world 100 meters record holder Asafa Powell and reigning sprint hurdle World Champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton did not open their 2010 season as expected, at the ninth staging of the Queens/Grace Jackson Invitational at Jamaica’s National Stadium on Saturday.

Powell and Foster-Hylton, who were set to run the 200m and 400m respectively, withdrew from the meet, which ran more than two hours behind schedule.

Meet organiser Olive McNaughton had indicated that Powell, who was originally scheduled to run the 400m had stepped down to the 200m, as he was struggling with flu-like symptoms. However, with the meet lagging behind schedule, neither of the two World Championship medallists competed.

In the meantime, Powell’s MVP teammate Nesta Carter, who started Jamaica’s world-record setting 4x100m relay team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, opened his 2010 season clocking a credible 10.15 seconds. The wind reading was 1.8 m/s.

Carter, who ran in lane four, staved off the challenge of Akon track club’s Oshane Bailey, who produced a career best 10.25secs.

Carter — Jamaica’s third fastest athlete of all-time with 9.91secs, behind world record holder Usain Bolt (9.58) and Powell (9.72) — expressed satisfaction with his performance.

“It (time) was expected because I’m trying to get (race) sharp for the indoor season. I’m looking forward to that,” he said.

“The execution (of the race) was pretty good (but) I need to see the replay to see how well I did,” the sprinter added.

Carter, who will be running indoors for the first time in his career, indicated that his training was going well.

“Hopefully, I do good enough to run at the World Indoor Championships in Doha,” Carter added, noting that he was still unsure of where his first meet will be. “I leave that to my manager and my coach,” he said.