Anna Legnani reports from Paris

Adverse weather conditions continue to dog the European Grand Prix meetings. After the violent showers of St. Denis, Rome and Moscow, the twenty-seven Olympic medallists assembled for the Gaz de France - Paris Meeting also competed under grey skies and persistent rain, which dampened the power of world record hopefuls Wilson Kipketer, Hicham El Guerrouj and Haile Gebrselassie.

Noureddine Morceli and Hicham El Guerrouj squared off in Paris for their first race since the 1500m Olympic final, where El Guerrouj tripped just before the bell. Morceli was no match for the young Moroccan, who went into the lead shortly after the first lap, run in world record pace. El Guerrouj then slackened the rhythm, finishing in 3:31.87 against 3:33.98 for the triple world record holder.

Wilson Kipketer confirmed his dominance over 800m, but also slowed down in the second half of the race, to finish in 1:44.03 after taking the bell in 50.33, clocking the second best time of the season. Haile Gebrselassie concluded his lonesome 5000m cavalcade in 13:01.51, his world record ambitions also thwarted by the rain.

The Charléty crowd was eagerly awaiting the women's 200m and the 1997 debut of Atlanta heroine Marie-Josée Pérec, but it was newly crowned US Champion Inger Miller who bolted out of the blocks and pursued her acceleration to finish in 22.48, equalling the season's best mark. Pérec finished a desolate seventh in 23.17, and disappointed fans booed as she evoked her fears after being diagnosed with a stress fracture last week.

Returning to competition after suffering from a strained hamstring in his one-on-one duel against Donovan Bailey on June 1st, Michael Johnson seemed set to add another notch to his winning streak over 400m as he sped out of the final bend ahead of the pack, but US Champion Antonio Pettigrew powered past halfway down the home straight. As the 1991 world champion confirmed his return to the forefront and went on to clock 44.86, Johnson seemed to stall. Three other athletes passed him on either side, and the Waco native finished in 45.76 for his first defeat in a 400m final since 1989.

Arch-rival Donovan Bailey had pounded down the 100m into a 1.5m/s head wind to win in 10.07 over Tim Montgomery, while Frankie Fredericks closed his 200m in 20.38. Dimitri Markov vaulted an impressive 5.85m on the slippery runway, while Sergey Bubka repeated the 5.60m of his Helsinki comeback.

Seasonal leaders to confirm their dominance were Trine Hattestad in the women's javelin (68.12) and Bryan Bronson in the low hurdles (48.15), while high hurdler Allen Johnson needed the help of the photo-finish this time to confirm his superiority over Mark Crear (13.29).

The biggest loser of the day was former indoor world record holder Inna Lasovskaya, who snapped her Achilles tendon after the first attempt in the triple jump.