King keeps his crown

How entirely fitting that more theatrical distance running should conclude these world athletics championships yesterday. Fitting too that Hicham El Guerrouj was again crowned king of the world at 1,500 metres, producing a delightful soliloquy that helps redeem his cruel Olympic disappointment of a year ago.

Few athletes came to Edmonton under greater pressure, but the Moroccan world record holder and champion twice before took it all in his conquering and untouchable stride. From just beyond half way he was alone and after one glance behind coming down the straight, he was safe enough to blow kisses crossing the line. Three minutes 30.68 seconds will rarely look more effortless.

Unlike Sydney, the Kenyans had to settle on second best, with Bernard Lagat leading the chase in 3:31.10. Driss Maazouzi of France was the surprise winner of the bronze in 3:31.54, but by then El Guerrouj was down on his knees in prayer.

"I can't believe this, it's just incredible. I want to thank everyone for cheering me here and I'm just so, so happy."

Things were a lot closer in the women's 800 metres where only inches separated the top three. Maria Mutola turned bronze to gold in the final 20 metres, first edging past Letitia Vriesde of Surinam and then Stephanie Graf of Austria. It was the first world title for Mozambique's Olympic champion since 1993, although she lost out in three finals since.

Indeed Vriesde looked poised to surprise everyone, leading from the gun until the home straight. Graf struggled to get past and so seemed set for gold but few athletes finish faster than Mutola and she won in 1:57.17, only 0.18 of a second ahead of both runners-up.

And earlier in the day Lidia Simon finally took a major title in the women's marathon, but only after a tense dual with Japan's Reiko Tosa in the closing miles. Having won medals in all major championships since 1997 - except for the gold - the Romanian had the greater fire approaching the stadium and won by five seconds in 2:26.06.

The record heat that still hangs over Edmonton didn't help the chances of Ireland's Teresa Duffy, and she eventually came home in 39th place in 2:43.33. Less than 24 hours earlier Jamie Costin finished an even more exhausted 28th place in the 50km walk in a time of 4:11.58. Victory there went to double Olympic champion Robert Korzeniowski of Poland in 3:42.08.

Concluding events in the field were a little more predictable where Jaz Zelezney improved his own championship record in the javelin with a throw of 92.80 metres.

One of the minor good news stories for the Irish of the entire week came in the 4x400 metre relay. Robert Daly, Tom Comyns, Paul McKee and Tomas Coman combined to lower the national record by over a second when finishing seventh in Saturday's heat, clocking 3:04.26 to improve the 3:05.45 set two years ago.

But American pride in the relays was slightly dented as they only managed to win three of the four titles. A Marion Jones-anchored 4x100 metres set them on a winning trail but the women's 4x400 squad blew their chances by dropping the baton.