ATHLETICS : Christie beaten again

Linford Christie, the Olympic and world 100 metres champion, was beaten for the second time in three days yesterday when Canada's Donavan Bailey won the 60m at an indoor meeting in Stockholm.

At the same meeting, John Regis, the British 200m outdoor record-holder, was injured and is almost certainly out of the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona in a fortnight.

In the 60m, Bailey clocked 6.57sec to wipe out Dennis Mitchell's stadium record of 6.61 from 1992, while Christie finished second in 6.58. Britain's Darren Braithwaite, who beat Christie over 60m in Birmingham on Saturday, was third in 6.65.

Regis fell just before the finishing line of the men's 200m and was treated for a pulled thigh muscle. A preliminary statement by a doctor said he would be out of action for three to six weeks. Regis was fighting for the lead at the time of his accident with Norway's Geir Moen, who went on to win the race in 20.72.

Irina Privalova, of Russia, the world record-holder, won the women's 60m in 7.07, well ahead of the Ukrainian, Zhanna Tarnopolskaya, who clocked 7.24.

Moses Kiptanui, of Kenya, won the 3,000m in 7min 39.36sec. Cheered on by 10,238 people, Kiptanui tired at the end to finish well outside his own world record of 7:35.15 that he had pledged to break at the meeting.

The Dutch 800m specialist, Ellen van Langen, won in 2:00.44, more than one second ahead of Surinam's Letitia Vriesde. Van Langen said after the race that she was now ending her indoor season in order to prepare for the World Championships in Gothenberg in August.

Venuste Niyongabo, of Burundi, clocked the second-fastest indoor time ever in the 1,000m, missing Noureddine Morceli's world record by only 36 hundredths of a second. Niyongabo's winning time in the five-lap race was 2:15.62. Britain's Matthew Yates finished second in 2:18.26.