Nick Davies reports from Hengelo

It was probably the costliest 1.1 seconds in athletics history. For when Haile Gebrselassie crossed the line in Hengelo, his face contorted with pain, he glanced at the clock and threw his arms up in despair -- 8:01.08. The brave Ethiopian’s bid to become the first man in history to run 2 miles in under eight minutes , and so win a $1 million prize, had failed. And by little more than a tick . Yet the race, billed as "The Duel" by the organisers of the Adriaan Paulen Memorial meeting , turned out to be anything but. Morceli, who before the race had seemed as tense and tired as Gebrselassie was relaxed and happy, was a shadow of his old self and dropped out with more than a lap to go in second to last place. It was a duel between Gebrselassie and the cruellest opponent of all - the clock.
When Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4 minute mile in Oxford in 1954 the wind dropped just before the race started. In Hengelo too, as the starter’s gun sounded, there was an eerie moment when a breeze that had kep the flags fluttering suddenly died out. As the pacemakers cast their long shadows in the evening sun it was as if the gods, as well as the enthusiastic capacity crowd, were in favour.
For the first lap Morceli and Gebrselassie seemed content to watch each other as they languished in sixth and seventh place behind a gang of pacemakers. Were they not going to bother about the $1 million? The first 400m was completed in 59.59, which was too slow for such an epic attempt. But then Gebrselassie, his realised that this was no tactical race. It was instead a demand of absolute effort. As the pacemakers toiled only Gebrselassie was able to live in their slipstream. 800m was reached in 2:00.53, 1200m in 3:02:04 and the crucial marker, the 1 mile, in 4:00.77. The crowd roared on the diminutive Ethiopian, who has a home in Holland as the incredible happened. Morceli began to drop back with half the race still to run. His fatigue, perhaps an effect of his long trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was etched in his every effort. The Duel had ended. And yet Gebrselassie’s relentless pace continued. Ably assisted to the 2000m point by Briton Anthony Whitehead, the Olympic 10,000m champion faced the last 1300 metres alone. With even the pacemakers stirring the crowd into more vocal support, the Ethiopian could sense an historic prize was for his the taking. The bell clanged with 7:00.25 on the clock. Surely he could complete the final 400m fast enough! The crowd, hardened journalists, even a broken Morceli at track side, willed him on. Yet the final, agonising lap proved to be too much. So fantastic in his intent, Gebrselassie proved he was only human after all.