Athletics: Lewis fails to catch Mitchell

CARL LEWIS finished second to his American compatriot, Dennis Mitchell, over 100 metres at an international meeting in Copenhagen last night, though the former Olympic champion complained that Mitchell had benefited from a premature start.

Mitchell clocked a wind-assisted time of 9.92sec to beat Lewis by three-hundredths of a second. Nigeria's Olapade Adeniken was third in 10.00. The crowd at Copenhagen's Osterbro stadium, hosting a major athletics meeting for the first time in 30 years, jeered after the race. Television replays supported Lewis's claims that Mitchell had jumped the gun.

The Olympic champions, Kevin Young and Quincy Watts of the United States, recorded expected wins. Young won the 400m hurdles in 48.57sec, almost two seconds off the world record of 46.78 he set in the Barcelona Olympics. Winthrop Graham, of Jamaica, was second in 49.45 with Zambia's Samuel Matete third in 49.49.

Watts captured the 400m in another relatively slow winning time of 44.85, finishing 0.5sec ahead of his compatriot, Steve Lewis. Samson Kitur, of Kenya, took third in 45.12. They finished in the same order in Barcelona. David Grindley, of Britain, was fifth in 46.26.

Nixon Kiprotich's strong kick with about 40 metres left enabled him to pass the Olympic champion, William Tanui, and win the 800m in 1min 45.16sec. Tanui clocked 1:45.41. Robert Kibet made it a Kenyan triple in 1:45.58. Johnny Gray, the Olympic bronze medallist finished last in 1:51.53.

Sonia O'Sullivan, of Ireland, upset the Olympic champion, Elena Romanova, in the women's 3,000 metres, outpacing the CIS runner to win the race in 8:45.48. Tatyana Dorovskikh, the Olympic silver medallist, was sixth.

Werner Gunthor, of Switzerland, a double world champion who failed in Barcelona, had the fifth longest putt of the year at 21.34 meters to win the shot. America's Jim Doehring, who was second in the Olympics, threw 20.71 for second while countryman Ron Backes was third at 20.07.

Kenya's Richard Chelimo finished only seventh in the 5,000m, failing to avenge his defeat by Moroccan Khalid Skah in the Olympic 10,000m final. Another Kenyan, Paul Bitok, edged out Skah in 13min 19.26sec, Skah clocked 13:19.51.

Czechoslovakia's Jan Zelezny confirmed his position as the world leader in the javelin with a throw of 88.34m. Seppo Raty, of Finland, was second with 85.10.