Kipketer misses Coe's record

Athletics

Wilson Kipketer missed breaking Sebastian Coe's 15-year-old 800 metres world record by just one-tenth of a second when he clocked 1min 41.83sec at a meeting in Rieti, Italy, yesterday.

The Kenyan-born runner, now a Danish citizen, was led by pacesetters through 400m in 49.05 and pulled away from the pack over the final half- lap.

His time was the first recorded under 1:42 since Brazil's Joachim Cruz ran 1:41.77 in 1984. Coe set the record of 1:41.73 at Florence in 1981.

Kenya's Daniel Komen shattered the world 3,000 metres record running 7:20.67 at the same meeting.

Komen, who set a new standard for two miles in July at Lappeenranta, in Finland, shaved over four seconds off Noureddine Morceli's old 3,000m mark of 7:25.11, set in Monte Carlo in 1994.

Helped by pacesetters, Komen was about eight seconds ahead of Morceli's record pace through 2,000m and ran the final four laps alone.

Britain's Jon Ridgeon finished third in the men's 400 metres hurdles, in 49.45, behind Torrance Zellner of the United States who won in 49.27.