Running in the Rain - American Sprint strikes back: Maurice Greene and Gail Devers dominate Athletissima

Giorgio Reineri and Sean Wallace-Jones report from Athletissima, Lausanne

Despite the atrocious weather conditions, which seem to have become the trademark of this season’s IAAF Grand Prix so far, the 14,000 spectators in the Lausanne Olympic stadium were able to see some superb performances including five best marks of the year. The season’s stars appear to be approaching championship form in the final month preceding the forthcoming World Championships in Athletics which will take place in Athens from 1-10 August.

If there was a category for running in the pouring rain, there is no question that the title was won by Maurice Greene for his 100m in Lausanne this evening. Pushed to excel by the impressive line-up - which included Donovan Bailey, Frankie Fredericks, Ato Boldon, Tim Montgomery and the retiring Linford Christie - Greene ran the perfect race progressing smoothly as opposed to Boldon, who made a searing start and tried to force the pace in the first 30 metres. Greene’s time of 9.90 would have been adequate in good conditions, running in the rain it constituted an exceptional display of athletic strength and prowess from the 22 year old American. He won the American trials in the same stunning time we saw this evening. Closely followed by Frank Fredericks of Namibia, who has also been producing some of the best times this season, in 9.91, Greene left the Olympic Champion and world record holder Bailey watching his heels with a 9.97third place - good by normal standards but totally outclassed this evening, when Maurice Greene ran the fastest time ever under such conditions.

Greene’s exploit was repeated in the women’s 100, where Gail Devers narrowly beat Marion Jones, crossing the line in a season’s best time of 10.89, 0.3 better than the mark Marion Jones established in good conditions during the US Trials. However, Jones - who only really got into her stride 20 metres from the finish and who many believe will be one of the leading lights of American athletics in the years to come - still managed to mark a personal best time of 10.90.

Another personal record in the men’s 400m hurdles where Bryan Bronson matched his 47.77 best mark. Bronson’s technique was perfect: he ran 13 strides between hurdles up to the seventh and then passed to 14 strides between seventh and eighth, moving up a gear to 15 strides through to the tenth. We can expect to see further improvements from this 25 year old American as the season progresses.

Ludmila Engquist of Sweden ran the second fastest 100m hurdles so far this year, finishing ahead of Brigita Bukovec (SLO) and Michelle Freeman of Jamaica in 12.65. Her time was the more remarkable as it was run into a slight headwind (-0.4m/s) in the pouring rain.

Allen Johnson showed that he is in world beating form. Despite a technical error at the eighth hurdle where he lost his rhythm for a stride after striking the hurdle with his heel, the Olympic and world champion made a textbook recovery and went on to mark the best time of the season (13.17), bettering his previous mark established in Chapel Hill (USA) on 17 May, in conditions comparable to those experienced by Engquist in the earlier women’s event.

In the women’s 400m, Falilat Ogunkoya crossed the finishing line in a respectable 50.19. Jearl Miles-Clark who owns the best mark of the season so far (49.40 at the USA trials in Indianapolis 14 June) set off at a cracking pace but after an overly fast first three hundred started to lose ground and Ogunkoya, running a tactically superior race went into the lead, holding it to the finish.

Butch Reynolds showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with, even though he missed his ticket to Athens after a poor showing in the US Trials. The owner of the world record in the 400m won the event in Lausanne in 44.08 ahead of Iwan Thomas (GBR) who ran a personal best of 44.46: just 9 hundredths short of the British record. Reynolds: "I’m 33 and I am still motivated to train. I really felt like winning and I did. I hope that I can make the same performance I did in the Trials last year.