Gebrselassie supreme

The Weltklasse meeting here was rewarded for its annual enthusiasm - and its budget of pounds 3m, the richest on the grand prix circuit - with two staggering world records, writes Mike Rowbottom from Zurich.

Moses Kiptanui ran the first of them as he reduced his own 3,000 metres steeplechase mark to 7min 59.18sec. Within an hour, however, he had lost the world 5,000m record he set two months ago as Haile Gebrselassie set a new mark of 12min 44.39sec, nearly 11 seconds faster than Kiptanui's time of 12.55.30.

No one has taken such a chunk out of the 5,000m record since 1932, when Lauri Lehtinen reduced the mark of his fellow Finn, Paavo Nurmi, by 11.2sec. No one in the intervening years - not Gunder Haag, not Vladimir Kuts, not Emil Zatopek, not Kip Keino, not Ron Clarke, not Lasse Viren, not Said Aouita - has approached the margin of that achievement.

Gebrselassie, who last week retained his world title at 10,000m - for which he also holds the world record - expressed himself "a little surprised" by the winning margin. It was his sixth world record, and the 20th seen in this stadium since 1959. "My country wanted me to run the 5,000 and 10,000m at the World Championships, but I was especially prepared for the 5,000m in Zurich," Gebrselassie said.

There was, of course, the incentive for a world record here of a $50,000 (pounds 32,500) bonus and a 1kg gold bar, something Kiptanui also picked up after an effort which was, unlike Gebrselassie's, not assisted by pacemakers. This was at the Kenyan's own request, but he proved quite able to deliver the prediction he made after winning his third consecutive world title that he would save the world record for Zurich.

Kiptanui expressed the hope that he would make his name remembered by becoming the first man to beat eight minutes for his event. Both he and Gebrselassie are now the stuff of legend.

"I have planned for this world record since 1992," Kiptanui said. "To be the first man under eight minutes means more to me than winning the world title. I didn't want any pacemakers because I don't like to have anyone in front of me." People have begun to notice that.

Michael Johnson is similarly used to being out on his own. He was again last night in the 400m, but the task of lowering Butch Reynolds's world record of 43.29sec seven years after it had been set on the same track proved too much for him.

Nine races at the World Championships, where he became the first man to win the 200 and 400m double, had taken too much of a toll even on his resources, and he finished in 43.88sec. "I ran the best I could," he said.

Gwen Torrence, denied a sprint double in Gothenburg after being disqualified for running out of her lane in the 200 metres, beat Merlene Ottey, who inherited her gold medal and accused her of cheating. Maria Mutola also gained a measure of satisfaction after being disqualified in the world 800m semi- final. She beat the gold medallist, Ana Fidelia Quirot of Cuba.