Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj broke the mile world record in Rome last night when he clocked three minutes 43.13 seconds in a dramatic race at the second Golden League meeting of the season.

Guerrouj, who broke the 1,500 metres world mark on the same track last year, was pushed all the way to the finish line by Kenya's Noah Ngeny in a fast last lap and finished just a few strides ahead.

He shaved 1.26 seconds off the previous best of 3:44.39 set by Algeria's Noureddine Morceli in Rieti, Italy, in September 1993. Ngeny also finished inside the old record with a time of 3:43.40.

"I believed I could do 3:42 or 3:41 but 300 metres from the end I looked up at the screen and saw Ngeny on my shoulder and that distracted me," El Guerrouj said. "But still this is a magical track for me because I have broken two world records here. In the first 800 metres I was a bit nervous because Ngeny seemed very strong.

The meeting witnessed some superb performances in good conditions.

World record holder Maurice Greene equalled the third-fastest 100 metres of all time when he won easily in 9.85 seconds.

The American, who set a world record of 9.79 seconds in Athens last month, got a perfect start and was two strides ahead of his rivals at halfway before powering home to win comfortably.

Michael Johnson, Olympic champion over 200 and 400 metres, showed his sharpness over the shorter event when he beat world champion Ato Boldon in their first clash over 200 since the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Johnson had the better of his Trinidad rival down the home straight to finish in 19.93 seconds. Obadele Thompson of Barbados powered through in the last five metres to take second on the line in 20.12, just ahead of Boldon who was third in 20.14.