Ethiopian reclaims his record

ETHIOPIA'S Haile Gebrselassie recaptured his world 10,000 metre record in emphatic fashion at the Bislett Games in Oslo yesterday…

ETHIOPIA'S Haile Gebrselassie recaptured his world 10,000 metre record in emphatic fashion at the Bislett Games in Oslo yesterday and then vowed there was still more to come.

The 24-year-old Olympic champion, who admitted before the race that winning back the record he lost last year to Moroccan Salah Hissou was more important that winning at the world championships in Athens next month, clocked 26 minutes 31.32 seconds, nearly seven seconds inside the previous record.

Meanwhile, America's new sprint queen Marion Jones proved she is a quick learner when she won the 100 metres, beating fellow American Gail Devers. Although Jones ran only 11.06 seconds, well outside her fastest-ever time of 10.90 seconds, she showed why she is firm favourite for the world title.

The Dream Mile proved a surprise when Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj only just failed to beat the four-year-old record of Nourreddine Morceli of Algeria.

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El Guerrouj lunged over the line in three minutes 44.90 seconds - 51 seconds off Morceli's 3.44.39. It was the second fastest time ever. Ireland's Marcus O'Sullivan finished in eighth place.

Australia's Cathy Freedman ran the fastest 400 metres of her life to easily beat Britain's Donna Fraser and Nigeria's Molabi Bisi.

Meanwhile, Canada's Donovan Bailey, deciding to give the 100 metres a miss, easily won the 200 metres, clocking a wind-assisted 20.23 seconds. In the weakened 100 metres race, Frankie Fredericks beat his training partner Linford Christie in an unimpressive 10.11 seconds.

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