Hicham El Guerrouj came up short of another world record when he ran three minutes 49.01 seconds for the mile at the Gaz de France Grand Prix in Paris last night.

The Moroccan had hoped to improve on the Noureddine Morceli's record of 3:44.39 after coming within hundreds of a second in Nice earlier this month but faded on the last lap to finish well outside the mark.

In ideal running conditions in front of a packed Charlety stadium, El Guerrouj still had nearly two seconds to spare on John Kibowen of Kenya in second place with the other Kenyan William Tanui third in 3:52.31.

Gabriela Szabo ran the fastest 3000 metres of the year by taking victory in eight minutes 24.31 seconds, a new Romanian record and the third quickest European time ever. Zahra Ouazizz of Morocco second in 8:27.26 and Gete Wami of Ethiopia, third in 8:29.24, also set new national records.

Ireland's Sinead Delahunty had a disappointing run and finished at the back of the field in 9:16.28 - more than 15 seconds outside her best.

Marion Jones proved once again that she's the top female sprinter as the American cruised to victory in the 100 metres in 10.88 seconds.

Luck ran out for Tipperary's Tomas Coman at the World Junior championships in Annecy, France, yesterday when he missed out on a place in a 400 metres final by just two tenths of a second. Once again Coman's finish saw him powering through the field to take third behind Nigeria's Nduka Awagee and American Tony Berriman.

He clocked another personal best and Irish junior record time of 46.82 seconds. With two to qualify of right from three races plus two fastest losers that time put him ninth on the rankings and out of the final.