ATHLETICS: Irish 110-metre hurdles record-holder Peter Coghlan finished third in his section of the event at last night's IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne.
The 29-year-old was chasing the Olympic qualifying standard but although posting a season's best of 13.63 seconds, he missed his target by 0.08sec.
The six-times Irish champion was the quickest out of his blocks but in the closing stages was overhauled by Jamaica's Chris Pinnock and German Falk Balzer.
Pinnock won in a time of 13.57sec from Balzer, the former world bronze medallist whose 13.61sec time was his fastest of the season.
Ireland's James Nolan also ran a season's best but his time of three minutes 38.75 seconds was only good enough for 13th place in the 1,500 metres, which was won by Hicham El Guerrouj Hicham in 3:32.20.
Elsewhere, former world 5,000 metres champion Olga Yegorova showed devastating sprinting speed to win the 1,500m.
Yegorova extended her unbeaten run to five successive races, although she was pushed to hold off the challenge of fellow Russian, Yelena Zadorozhnaya.
Repeating her victory ahead of her fellow countrywoman in Rome four days ago, Yegorova posted a winning time of 4 minutes, 01.41 seconds, with Zadorozhnaya second in 4min 01.72sec.
Lidia Chojecka, the Polish record-holder, lowered her season's best by just under two seconds to 4min 02.83sec.
Asafa Powell ran the fastest 100m on European soil this year when scorching to an "evens" 10 seconds victory.
Powell, who last week broke the 13-year-old Jamaican record of Ray Stewart at his National Championships, accelerated brilliantly in the final 20 metres of the race.
Francis Obikwelu was second in 10.02sec with Ghana's Aziz Zakari clinching third place in 10.13sec. Obikwelu, Nigeria-born but now representing Portugal, along with Uchenna Emedolu, held the previous fastest performance in Europe with a time of 10.05sec.
World champion Allen Johnson ran the fastest 110-metres hurdles time of the year with a runaway victory. Johnson raced to the win on the brand new Olympic Stadium track in a time of 13.05 seconds.
Johnson won ahead of Latvian Stanislav Olijar and Ron Bramlett. Olijar, the European silver medallist, produced a season's best of 13.21secs while Bramlett ran a personal best time of 13.26secs.
Johnson revealed he will not be running again until July 17th, which explained why he competed in Rome and Lausanne when almost every other leading US athlete stayed at home preparing for the Olympic trials, which start in Sacramento California on Friday.
In the 400-metre hurdles. Olympic gold medal favourite Felix Sanchez set the fastest time in the world this year claiming victory in 47.86 seconds to shoot to the top of the ranking lists and better the 48.02secs set by South African Ockert Cilliers at altitude in Pretoria in February.
The Dominican Republic star, who cleared every hurdle perfectly, pulled South African Llewellyn Herbert and Japan's Dai Tamesue, to their fastest times of the year.
Herbert, bronze medallist in Sydney, clocked 48.03secs while Tamesue, the last athlete to beat Sanchez, finished in 48.63secs.
LAUSANNE DETAILS:
MEN
Javelin: 1. Sergey Makarov (Russia) 85.17 2. Eriks Rags (Latvia) 84.87 3. Raymond Hecht (Germany) 82.17. Long jump: 1. Hussein Taher Al-Sabee (Saudi Arabia) 8.19 2. Ignisious Gaisah (Ghana) 8.14 3. Bogdan Tarus (Romania) 8.13. 200 metres: 1. Frank Fredericks (Namibia) 20.21 2. Stephane Buckland (Mauritius) 20.27 3. Johan Wissman (Sweden) 20.50. 800 metres: 1. Joseph Mutua (Kenya) 1:44.50 2. William Yiampoy (Kenya) 1:44.78 3. Youssef Kamel (Bahrain) 1:44.99. 1,500 metres: 1. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) 3:32.20 2. Isaac Songok (Kenya) 3:32.22 3. Ivan Heshko (Ukraine) 3:33.00. Pole vault: 1. Rens Blom (Netherlands) 5.70 2= Pavel Gerasimov (Russia) 5.70 2= Vadim Strogalev (Russia) 5.70. 400m: 1. Alleyne Francique (Grenada) 44.75 2. Leslie Djhone (France) 44.98 3. Eric Milazar (Mauritius) 45.25. 100 metres: 1. Asafa Powell (Jamaica) 10.00 2. Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) 10.02 3. Aziz Zakari (Ghana) 10.13. 110m hurdles: 1. Allen Johnson (US) 13.05 2. Stanislavs Olijars (Latvia) 13.21 3. Ron Bramlett (US) 13.26. 5,000m: 1. Salim Jawher Mushir (Bahrain) 13:02.47 2. Mulugeta Wendimu (Ethiopia) 13:02.78 3. Abiyote Abate (Ethiopia) 13:03.33
WOMEN
800 metres: 1. Svetlana Cherkasova (Russia) 1:58.91 2. Maria Mutola (Mozambique) 1:59.06 3. Luciana Mendes (Brazil) 1:59.11. 100 metres: 1. Christine Arron (France) 11.01 2. Aleen Bailey (Jamaica) 11.13 3. Yuliya Nesterenko (Belarus) 11.17. High jump: 1. Yelena Slesarenko (Russia) 2.03 2. Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) 1.98 3. Viktoriya Styopina (Ukraine) 1.95. 100m hurdles: 1. Delloreen Ennis-London (Jamaica) 12.57 2. Glory Alozie (Spain) 12.69 3. Brigitte Foster (Jamaica) 12.69. 1,500m: 1. Olga Yegorova (Russia) 4:01.41 2. Yelena Zadorozhnaya (Russia) 4:01.72 3. Lidia Chojecka (Poland) 4:02.83. 400m: 1. Olga Kotlyarova (Russia) 50.09 2. Christine Amertil (Bahamas) 50.65 3. Ionela Tirlea-Manolache (Romania) 50.95
