Hicham El Guerrouj fulfilled what many said he would when he smashed the world record for 1,500 metres in a phenomenal three minutes 26.00 seconds at the IAAF Golden Gala Grand Prix in Rome last night. The 23-year-old Moroccan became the first man to run under 3:27 when taking over a second off the previous record of 3:27.37 which was set by Algeria's Noureddine Morceli in 1995.
El Guerrouj finished nearly five seconds ahead of Laban Rotich who clocked 3:30.94 in second place. Despite the humid conditions, El Guerrouj put himself well inside record schedule from the start. A Kenyan trio made the early pace for compatriot Daniel Koman but El Guerrouj took off at the bell and ran the final lap on his own to claim his first outdoor world record. Last year, however, El Guerrouj broke Eamon Coghlan's world indoor mile record. El Guerrouj also ended Morceli's four-year winning streak in 1996 and may well have taken the Olympic title had he not tripped on the last lap. In addition, El Guerrouj ended Morceli's three successive World titles last year when he relegated him to fourth in Athens.
Last Thursday El Guerrouj looked superb in Oslo when he ran 3:29.12 but this run surpassed anything seen over 1,500 metres. "I felt great the whole way," he said afterwards. "It was almost easy with the good track surface and excellent support of the pacemakers."
The Olympic Stadium in Rome has been the stage for many great records through the years, including the first sub-13 minute 5,000 metres by Said Aouita in 1987, although it will be hard to match such a breathtaking performance as this.
Sonia O'Sullivan had to be content with the minor placings once again after finishing ninth over 1,500 metres in four minutes 02.78 seconds. Despite running her second fastest time of the season, it left her a long way behind Svetlana Masterkova of Russia who stormed to victory in 3:58.42, the fastest time in the world this year.
This was always going to be a stern challenge for O'Sullivan but after finishing fourth in an equally strong field in Olso last Thursday, she was hoping for a better result than this. As it turned out she was left struggling for pace over the final lap after Masterkova and Gabriela Szabo of Romania battled it out for the win. The Olympic champion had too much strength for Szabo but she still set a personal best of 3:59.25. Violeta Szekely had made most of the early pace and finished third in 3:59.77 with the world champion Carla Sacramento of Portugal also running a personal best of 3:59.89 in fourth.
O'Sullivan failed to make an impression on the leaders over the final stages although with a field of this quality it was going to take something special to pull off a victory. She moves up to the 3,000 metres in Nice tomorrow night and that should be more to her liking as she gears towards the defence of her European 5,000 metres title in Budapest next month.
After that she races over the mile at the Goodwill Games in New York, another 3,000 metres in Sheffield on August 2nd and a final test over 1,500 metres at the hugely popular Weltklasse meeting in Zurich just nine days before she runs the heats of the 5,000 metres in Budapest on August 21st.
American Michael Johnson did manage to get back to his winning ways with an impressive 44.40 in taking the 400 metres. It was some consolation for his defeat at the hands of Britain's Mark Richardson in Olso who had to settle for second spot this time in 44.62. Tyree Washington took third and early leader Iwan Thomas finished fifth in 44.76.
Richardson is now out of the running for the Golden League $1 million bonus but Frankie Fredericks (100m), El Guerrouj (1,500m), Haile Gebrselassie (3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m), Bryan Robinson (400m hurdles) and Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) remain in contention.
