DN GALAN STOCKHOLM

KIPKETER EQUALS 800m WORLD RECORD

Nick Davies reports

After an agonising wait for the photo-finish to be checked, Wilson Kipketer finally confirmed his supreme talent by equalling Sebastian Coe’s 16 year-old 800m world record of 1:41.73 at the DN-Galan in Stockholm. Originally the clock had read 1:41.74 but the dismay of the 22,000 crowd packed into the historic stadium soon turned to a roar of delight as Kipketer embraced his coach and gave a huge smile.

During the race Kipketer was a couple of strides off pacemaker Bernard Kisilu who went through 200m in 24.2 and 400m in 49.2. Unfortunately, the Dane then closed so much that at the 600m point (reached in 1:16.3) he had to hesitate momentarily before the pacemaker moved out of the way. Knowing his chance may have gone Kipketer then began an incredible sprint for the line which saw him cover the last 200m in 25.4 (Unofficial 200m splits for Kipketer - 24.4, 25.0, 26.9 and 25.4).

"I was trying really hard to run fast over the last 200 metres but over the last 50 metres I couldn’t feel my legs anymore" said Kipketer. "I am really relieved because I can relax a little. Everyone has been asking about this record but now I can say I have done it," said Kipketer.

With only an hour between races, Ato Boldon completed one of the greatest sprint doubles in history by running 9.95 and 19.82 - both legal times. Second in both races was Boldon’s training partner Maurice Greene. Perhaps angry to be well beaten at 100m Greene gave Boldon a tremendous battle in the longer sprint. They must have thought they were back home training with John Smith in LA as they powered off the bend together. Boldon had eased ahead by about a metre by the finish but Greene still ran 19.86 - a huge improvement on his personal best of 20.46. After missing three weeks training because of injury Boldon is returning to the form that saw him run 9.89 back in May.

Just three days after narrowly missing the Mile world record in Oslo, Hicham El Guerrouj clocked 3:29.30 - a stadium record and the fastest time of 1997 - to win the 1500m in Stockholm. The Moroccan chased the pacemaker through 400m in 53.23 and 800m in 1:50.5. Out in front with about 600 metres to run El Guerrouj passed the bell in 2:33.6 - but started to tighten up in the final 100 metres. Kenya’s Laban Rotich also had an excellent race closing fast on El Guerrouj in the last 200 metres to clock 3:30.13 at the finish - a new Kenyan record.

Moses Kiptanui made a brave bid to break his own steeplechase world record but ran out of steam in the last two and half laps. The Kenyan, crowned world champion in 1991, 1993 and 1995, was on schedule after going through 1000 metres in 2:39 (compared to 2:41.25 for the actual world record) 1500 metres in 4:03 and 2000 metres in 5:21 (compared to 5:22.20. The Kenyan, alone from the mile point, passed the bell in 6:58 but could only manage a 63 second last lap. At least he broke the Stadium record to finish in 8:01.80 - a time only he has ever bettered.

This year’s outstanding woman athlete, Marion Jones, ran the fastest time of 1997 to finish four metres clear of Cathy Freeman in the 200m. Jones, running this event for the first time since 1995, clocked 22.17 and seemed to be taking one stride to every two of her rivals. For someone who was playing college basketball in March, Jones has an wonderful sprinting style - relaxed and efficient.

After a tremendous duel with world champion Ana Quirot, Britain’s Kelly Holmes clocked 1:57.14 to break the 800m stadium record. After breaking the British mile record just a week ago in Sheffield Holmes could go for an 800/1500m double in Athens.

Cuban missile Ivan Pedroso showed again that he will be the man to beat in Athens as he soared out to 8.59 to beat Joe Greene and Kiril Sosunov in the long jump. Pedroso, back to his flying best, hit the board perfectly with his third round effort to improve his lead of 8.33. The Cuban could afford to miss the next round and foul his final two attempts.

Last year’s wonder-runner Daniel Komen showed he was only human after finishing fourth in a 5000m race that had been billed as his world record attempt. Kenya’s Thomas Nyariki ran out the winner in 12:55.94 after Komen struggled to maintain the early pace.

Jan Zelezny suffered another defeat in the javelin, this time to Germany’s Boris Henry.

Olympic 110m hurdles champion Allen Johnson showed the versatility that had made him a good young decathlon prospect by running a personal best 20.26 in the "B" 200m race. Johnson ran a scorching bend and maintained his advantage in the straight without straining. Among his scalps was World Junior Champion Tony Wheeler.

The excellent standard of this meeting on a beautiful summer evening meant the Meeting organisers handed out diamonds worth $10,000 for each of nine individual stadium records. And, incidently, a man called Carl Lewis anchored the Santa Monica Track Club to victory in the last event of the night - the 4x100. The time was 38.32 … a new stadium record.