Johnson's record marking time

Athletics

The double Olympic gold medallist, Michael Johnson, believes his 200m world record can be broken - but not this century.

The American, who reduced his own world mark of 19.66sec to 19.32sec at the Atlanta Games last month, said he did not know of anyone likely to better it - although that could change by the Sydney Games in 2000.

"Of course it's possible to improve it but I think it will be very difficult," he said in Milan before the Grand Prix athletics finals on Saturday. "I think it could only happen in a competition like the Olympics, where there is an extra incentive."

Liz McColgan, who had an unhappy Olympic marathon, will seek consolation at the World Half-marathon Championships in Palma, Majorca, on 29 September. The 32-year-old Scot leads Britain's team in an event she won in 1992, when it was staged for the first time.

McColgan went into the Atlanta race with a swollen heel, and finished 16th. Her first race back will be the BUPA Great North Run, also a half- marathon, on Tyneside on 15 September.

BRITISH TEAM (World Half-marathon Championships, Palma, 29 September): Men: M Jones (Horwich), P Makepeace (Leicester), C Robinson (Spango Valley), D Swanston (Copeland), D Tune (Rotherham). Women: H Heasman (Horwich), L McColgan (Dundee), D Sanderson (Watford), H Nash (Newport), S Goldsmith (Edinburgh WM).