Zelezny throw may force change

Jan Zelezny's phenomenal world javelin record of 98.48 metres in Jena, eastern Germany may oblige the international authorities to alter the event once again for safety reasons, writes Mike Rowbottom.

Czechoslovakia's world and Olympic champion threw almost three metres further on Saturday than his previous record of 95.66m at Sheffield in August 1993.

He has now taken the world record perilously close to 100 metres. When the mark was last crossed in 1984, the javelin had to be redesigned to reduce the distance it would fly and keep it within the confines of most stadiums.

"I knew what I was capable of," Zelezny said. "Now I want to throw 100 metres."

It was the third time the 29-year-old soldier had extended the record since he first claimed it in 1987. His latest effort has come at the perfect psychological moment as he prepares to defend the title he won in Barcelona.

His only consistent rival, Britain's Steve Backley, will have his powers of positive thinking tested to the limits by the news of Zelezny's further advance, particularly as he is already facing a battle to regain fitness after an operation on his Achilles tendon three weeks ago.

Ethiopia's world 10,000m champion, Haile Gebreselassie, will seek his seventh world record, targeting Noureddine Morceli's two-year-old 3,000m best of 7min 25.11sec at the Adriaan Paulen Memorial meeting in Hengelo today. But poor weather in the Netherlands threatens to undermine his chances of breaking what he describes as "possibly the toughest record of all the ones I have attempted to beat".

By way of inspiration Gebreselassie, who will not compete again before the Olympics, will have his three favourite pop records played while he runs.

Morceli, racing in Villeneuve d'Ascq on Saturday, recorded the fastest 1500m of the year with 3min 32.05sec.