American Jon Drummond upset Britain's Linford Christie in the 100-meter sprint, but Noureddine Morceli couldn't beat the clock in the 5,000 meters Sunday at the Rieti Invitational track and field meet.
Drummond ran a meet-record 9.99 seconds in the 100 meters to easily beat Christie, the Olympic and World champion.Algeria's Morceli, hampered by the heat, won the men's 5,000 meters, but failed in his attempt to set the world record on the track where he previously had established marks for 1,500 meters and the mile.
Nineteen-year-old Benson Koech ran the year's fastest 800 meters at Rieti, leading a Kenyan sweep of the top four places in that race. He turned in a time of 1:43.17, more than one second ahead of countryman William Tanui, the gold medalist at the 1992 Olympics.
Drummond's time matches his personal best and allowed him to easily outpace Christie, who finished in 10.06.
It also puts an end to Christie's string of dominance at international meets. The Briton turned in the year's second-fastest time of 9.91 seconds at the Commonwealth Games Thursday, and prior to that had beaten the world's best sprinters at Grand Prix meets at Zurich, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium.
But Sunday's result didn't startle Drummond.
"I'm never surprised when I win," he said after the race. "I'm in the best form that I could be today."
Morceli, the best in the world between 1,500 and 5,000 meters, said after the race that temperatures near 77 degrees caused him to suffer from a dry throat and stomach pains.
He was attempting to break the standard of 12:56.96 set by Ethiopia's Haile Gebresilasie in June.
Morceli's pacesetters led him through the first 2,000 meters at a clip better than four seconds ahead of world-record time. But after the rabbits dropped out, the Algerian could not sustain the effort. His interval times fell substantially, and he finished with a time of 13:07.88, over four seconds slower than his personal best.
After the race, Morceli sounded upbeat as to prospects for another shot at the record.
"There is plenty of opportunity to try again," he said.
He had made Rieti's track his personal record-stomping ground. The Algerian established world marks here for the 1,500 meters in 1992 and the mile at last year's meet.
He also holds the record at 3,000 meters, which he set earlier this month at Monaco.
World record holder Colin Jackson of Britain pulled away with two barriers left to win the 110-meter hurdles in 13.07 seconds, the second-fastest time of the year. Americans Alan Johnson and Anthony Dees finished second and third, respectively.
Irina Privalova of Russia repeated the double she accomplished at this month's European Championships, cruising to victories in both the 100 and 200 meter events. She led from the blocks in winning the women's 100-meter dash in a slow time of 11.02 seconds. The bronze medalist at the 1992 Olympics easily defeated Jamaica's Juliet Cuthbert, who took silver at Barcelona.
Privalova then returned to the track for the 200 and was unchallenged, winning in 22.21 seconds.
In a photo-finish men's 400, Britain's Roger Black used a late kick and a strong lean to catch American Derek Mills at the tape. Both were clocked in 44.78 seconds.
Three Russians tied for the best height in the pole vault - 18 feet-81/4 - but Rodion Gataullin took first place on the basis of fewest misses. His countrymen Igor Trandenkov and Victor Christiakov shared second.
Kenyan Atoi Boru kicked with 50 meters left to capture the men's 1,500 meters in 3:34.12.
In the high jump, Troy Kemp of the Bahamas won, clearing 7-53/4.
Russia's Aleksander Porkhomovskiy took the men's 200 in 20.35 seconds, while his countrywoman Yecaterina Podkopayeva's strong finish won her the women's 1,500.