Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene was timed in 9.96 seconds on Saturday, his fastest race this year, to win his second straight Japan Grand Prix men's 100 meters.

The American superstar's time was 0.17 shy of his world record of 9.79 seconds, set in 1999.

Benard Williams, also of the United States, placed second in 10.17, followed by Ghana's Aziz Zakari-Abdul, who won the bronze in 10.19.

"I wanted to come out and run a lot faster today, but you know I ran the best race I could (so far) this year," Greene said. "I hope Osaka fans are proud of the way I ran.

"I knew it was going to be tough because I've been training with Bernard Williams, and I knew he was going to come out here and push me down to the track. So I really had to concentrate on my form and run technically sound."

Shawn Crawford was fourth in 10.27, but the American sprinter won the 200 meters a couple of hours later in 20.20 seconds.

Zakari-Abdul won the silver in 20.37 and Shingo Suetsugu of Japan took the bronze in 20.42.