Four shoot for share of jackpot

Tension IN Moscow had made a number of athletes uncertain of competing in the IAAF Grand Prix final in the Russian capital this afternoon but the real fear is among the four athletes hoping to defend their stake in the $1 million jackpot. After winning their events in the six-leg Golden League during the summer, Marion Jones, Hicham El Guerrouj, Bryan Bronson and Haile Gebrselassie will be hoping for one more victory for a share of the richest prize in athletics history.

El Guerrouj of Morocco, over 1,500 metres, and Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, over 5,000 metres, have looked invincible all season and it will be some surprise to see them beaten. The same goes for the American sprinter Jones in the 100 metres but her compatriot Bronson took the 400 metre hurdles in Berlin on Tuesday by the closest of margins and looks like the only suspect for disappointment at the final stage.

Sonia O'Sullivan will also make her final appearance on a European track this summer by running the 3000 metres, although without the financial incentives on offer for the big four. There is a $100,000 bonus for any athlete who breaks a world record in Moscow but the mark in the 3,000 metres - 8 minutes 6.11 seconds - was set five years ago by Wang Junxia of China and nobody has come close since.

The main opposition for O'Sullivan will again come from Gabriela Szabo of Romania, who upset the European champion with a defeat in Berlin. The other main threat, Zohra Ouaziz of Morocco, has entered the 1500 metres. The final race of the season for O'Sullivan will be next weekend's World Cup in Johannesburg, where she will represent Europe over 5000 metres.

The economic crisis in Russia put off only a handful of athletes from participating despite over 50 international stars signing a petition earlier in the week seeking a new location for the meeting. Double Olympic champion Michael Johnson is the main casualty but almost all other athletes have decided to compete. The collapse of the rouble also meant the organisers decided to open the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium for free in order to attract as many spectators as possible.

Mark Carroll has decided to skip the final Grand Prix and end his season on a high note after his hugely impressive Irish record of 13 minutes 3.93 seconds in Berlin earlier in the week. He heads back to his American base on Tuesday and may compete in some road races over the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Nicky Sweeney had the best throw of his life just a couple of weeks too late when he broke his own Irish discus record with a throw of 67.89 metres at a meeting in Norway yesterday. His winning effort was nearly half a metre better than the record he set two years ago and left him four metres ahead of Ulf Johanson of Norway in second place.

The throw was some consolation for Sweeney after the disappointment of the European Championships two weeks ago, when his qualifying throw left him just centimetres outside a place in the final.

Chief interest among the British contingent in Moscow will be the 400 metres re-match between European champion Iwan Thom as and bronze medallist Mark Richardson, who meet for the first time since the final in Budapest.

Jock Mayock, who has pulled out of the World Cup to concentrate on the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, is to compete in the 1,500 metres.