Power maintained by top sportsperson in race (5)

I believe the answer is:

speed

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'race' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'power maintained by top sportsperson' is the wordplay.
'power' becomes 'p'.
'maintained' becomes 'eed' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'top' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'sportsperson' is 's'.
'p'+'eed'='peed'
'peed' after 's' is 'SPEED'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for speed that I've seen before include "Rate of movement" , "Hasten" , "Race" , "Expedition" , "The going rate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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