El Guerrouj leaves best of the rest for dead

It was a race that had the feel and quality of an Olympic final. Each man had a world class time to his name and list of credentials beside it. And for Mark Carroll, it was just a little too hot to handle. But yesterday's 3,000 metres was always going to be the most difficult title to win at these World Indoor Championships if your name wasn't Hicham El Guerrouj. He had come to Lisbon to start his redemption for the Olympic failure and, on this occasion, no one was going to stop him.

With about a third of the race left to run, the Moroccan broke from the front with the sort of pace that no other distance runner in the world can match. Mohammed Mourhit from Belgium - the current world cross country champion - hit top gear just to stay in touch, but El Guerrouj would hit the finish line once again blowing kisses, taking the gold in seven minutes 37.74 seconds.

Carroll had stayed in the middle of the pack for as long as possible, but spent the closing stages near the back, eventually finishing a credible seventh of the 13-man field in 7.46.79. Among the others to drop off the pace was Olympic 5,000 metre champion Million Wolde of Ethiopia, who ended up fifth in 7.44.54.

"My cardiovascular was okay out there, but I just felt a little one-paced," said Carroll. "Trying to get the legs to turn over was one of the biggest problems, and there was also a lot of bunching and barging with guys passing on the inside. I'd prefer to be running a little freer.

"But I felt a little more in the racing mode last season and the hamstring injury a couple of weeks back messed up my plans a little bit. I missed a week and had to take a week easy. The strength was still there alright, but I was stuck in one gear."

It was no great surprise that the middle distance events would produce the most exciting highlights of these championships. Indoor 800 metre running has produced the biggest improvement in world standards in recent years, and yesterday's final once again lived up to expectations.

Andre Bucher of Switzerland went into the Olympic final last September with major ambitions for gold, only to be deprived of a true opportunity when he was pushed off the track for a few strides by Andrea Longo from Italy. But he left nothing to chance on this occasion, breaking straight to front and passing 400 metres in 51.46 seconds, comfortably ahead of the five chasing runners.

Unfortunately for him, one of those behind him happened to be the Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy, now known as the fastest finisher in the business. He swept past the Swiss athlete on the back straight of the final lap and strolled home in 1.44.49. Defending champion John Botha of South Africa came through to take silver, but by then an exhausted Bucher was happy just to get third.

It wouldn't have taken a whole lot of luck for Irish record holder Daniel Caulfield to have gained a place in the final. He produced another courageous effort in Saturday's semi-final after coming through his heat as a fastest loser, but eventually had to settle for fifth in 1.47.79.

"It would have to regard this as a good weekend, especially considering I was having a can of Coke after Friday's heat planning to do some sightseeing today. This is the first season that I've been able to train seriously again after over two years of injury. I probably could have gone a little faster if I had a few more races behind me, but the last few months have been a bit if a struggle."

That's putting it mildly. Caulfield collected all the money he had saved and spent the month of January sleeping on the floor of a mate's house in New York while he sought some indoor races. He finished second at the Millrose Games, then lowered the Irish record to 1.47.21 in Boston. But now he has to seriously reassess his future in the sport.

Because of his injuries and work commitments in America over the last couple of years, the Roscommon athlete has never been in a position to even apply for a grant. Had he been just .32 of a second quicker and qualified for the final, he would have been entitled to something in the region £14,000. Instead, he will get about £200 bonus from a minor shoe deal he has with Reebok, and he may opt to try to stretch that as far as he can.

"I'll probably have to go back to work full work time and then try and come back again in a couple of months. But I have a hard time working eight hours and then trying to train twice a day. It's not really in my personality, to be honest. But I'd like to think I'll be able to keep going up at least until the summer."

Elsewhere, there was again no shortage of fast finishers in Saturday's purely tactical 1,500 metres final. Noah Ngeny of Kenya may have been Olympic champion, but the only man that mattered to the 8,000-strong crowd inside the Atlantic Pavilion was Portugal's Rui Silva.

And he duly delivered the biggest home win in the event since Fermin Cacho took Olympic gold for Spain in Barcelona in 1992. After sitting in an ideal position for the opening laps, Silva responded immediately to the explosive kick of Spain's Reyes Estevez at the bell.

Coming into the straight, the crowd were going wild but Silva remained calm. In a matter of strides the gold medal was his, 3.51.06 to the Spaniard's 3.51.24. Ngeny took third in 3.31.63.