The Usain Bolt love-in meant that it went unnoticed, but the world did not get the Olympic 100metres final that it had been waiting for. The three-way tussle for the title was reduced to a celebration of a one-man freight train. Jaws dropped, records tumbled and in the excitement everyone forgot about the two men who fell to earth.

This evening that will be rectified as Bolt lines up against Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay in Brussels. Last month in Beijing, Powell was blown away by his friend and faded to fifth place, lending credence to the joker and the choker jibes. Gay, the softly spoken American hamstrung by hamstring problems, did not reach the final.

Much has happened since Bolt set a world record of 9.69sec in the Bird's Nest. As an encore he ran 9.83sec in Zurich the Friday after the Olympics. Powell licked his wounds and recorded 9.87sec in the heavy rain of Gateshead last weekend and then an eyebrow-canting 9.72sec, equalling Bolt's former world record, in Lausanne on Tuesday.

Suddenly, everyone remembered that Powell also fluffed last year's World Championship final against Gay, but responded by breaking the world record in Rieti, Italy, soon after. Bolt goes home to Jamaica after this evening's race in front of a packed 50,000 crowd at the Memorial Van Damme meeting, but Powell returns to Rieti's fast track on Sunday. The record, mind-boggling as it is, may not last the weekend.

“The race in Lausanne was my best of this season, but not perfect,” Powell said. “I discussed with my coach how to improve some details. I asked him why I am running so fast at the end of the season and he said there's a lot less pressure, so you can do whatever you want. Weather permitting, I will run very fast on a track I really love - I've already won four times in Brussels.”

Powell, three years Bolt's senior at 25, made a startling admission this week to confirm the view held by many onlookers. “Maybe I'm just not a guy for those championships,” the Jamaican said. “Maybe I'm only the kind of guy to compete in Grand Prix and Golden League races.”

He elaborated on that theme yesterday. “I think the rounds of championships make it too hard for me,” he said. “But I amaze myself that I become stronger at the end of the season.”

It is the polar opposite view of Christine Ohuruogu, Great Britain's solitary Olympic track champion in Beijing, who has said that she trains only for the three days of the leading championships and treats Grand Prix races as training. For Powell, the pressure appears to get to him on the biggest stages, where he seems manacled by the thought of medals.

He is in rude health and knows what it is like to beat Bolt, having done so in Stockholm in the build-up to the Games, albeit that the star of Beijing suffered a terrible start on that occasion. Of the three, Gay is the one labouring to the finish line, admitting that he is still not 100 per cent, but lest anyone forgets, he has beaten Bolt's world record this season. Gay ran a wind-assisted 9.68sec at the United States trials in Eugene, Oregon, in June before suffering the injury that prevented him from starting the Olympics as the favourite.

Powell versus Bolt is a friendly rivalry. The pair go way back and when Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, criticised Bolt's post-race celebrations, Powell hijacked the 4x100 metres Olympic gold-medal press conference to stick up for his team-mate. Both are proud that Jamaica dominated the sprint programme in Beijing, both damning of the drug cheats that have long tainted their arena.

As Powell warmed to his task, Bolt played down the prospect of another record-breaking run. “It doesn't matter if I don't have the world record because for me the Olympic medal means much more,” he said. It is testament to his profile that the Olympic final we never had overshadows the battle between Pamela Jelimo, the 800metres champion, and Blanka Vlasic, surprisingly not the high jump champion, for the Golden League's $1million (about £565,000) jackpot. A win for either will gain them at least a half-share. Powell, meanwhile, is beginning to look a million dollars himself.

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