THE slender Algerian Nourreddine Morceli continued his relentless domination of the 1.500 metre discipline in Rome last night with another blistering run which burned away a quality field.

Morceli's time of 3:30.04 was the fastest in the world this year and his race followed a familiar pattern with younger brother Ali pacing the field through the 800-metre mark in a time of 1:54 and then sacrificing himself for the elder Morceli to take the race away.

For Niall Bruton of Santry, 10th place and a time of 3:37.08 was disappointing, but represented improvement on previous outings in Lille and Atlanta. Bruton had the misfortune to drop a water bottle and gash his shin in the aftermath of the race but remained upbeat.

I felt OK. I've had chest problems and was a bit worried. The time isn't great but I'm on course to bring it down by the time Atlanta comes about. That was a fast race out there tonight. I still panic a bit when I see people going past me. I have to learn to stick with my own race.

American Dennis Mitchell, he of the bald head and the earring through the eyebrow, dealt a hefty psychological blow to British Olympic champion Linford Christie in the 100 metre sprint. winning in a time 10.05. Christie was also pressed hard by Nigerian Olapade Adeniken.

Further trouble for Christie in the 200 metres, where a fine race by the in-form Frankie Fredericks was instrumental in relegating Christie to third place, with Patrick Stevens of Belgium squeezing in for second.

Christie's friend and stablemate, Colin Jackson looked at odds with himself, coming in fourth in a slowish 110 metres hurdle race won by the American Allen Johnson.

In the aftermath of his defeat, Christie was still playing games with the media regarding his intentions vis a vis Atlanta. The talking was left to his agent, Sue Barrett, who chipped in with: "I wish Linford would make up his mind. It would make my life a lot easier."

The fastest time of the year in the 800 metres was supplied by a surprising source. Giuseppe D'Urso came from fifth place coming around the final bend to burn away an African dominated field for one of the most popular wins of the night. D'Urso's time of 1:43.95 left Haida Mahjoub of Morocco and David Kiptoo of Kenya in the unusual position of battling it out for second place.

There was more Kenyan disappointment in the men's 5,009 metres, where Moses Kiptanui had hinted at his intention to repeat last summer's world record-breaking run in the same stadium. In the end Kiptanui had to settle for fourth place as the Moroccan Salah Hissou set easily the fastest time of the year so far, finishing in 12:50:0, faster than Kiptanui's world record.

Britain's Kelly Holmes, who beat Sonia O'Sullivan at 1,500 metres in Gateshead last summer, served further notice of how tough she will be to beat in Atlanta next month when she turned in the fastest 1,500 metres of the year, clocking 4:04:56 in an impressive run.

Kilkenny runner Sinead Delahunty showed signs of progress in finishing seventh and at time pressurising more vaunted runners. Delahunty ran a personal best of 4:07:2.