Wilson Kipketer set the world indoor record for 1,000 meters for the second time in two weeks Sunday and world record-holder Maurice Greene survived several false starts to win at 60 meters.
Ethiopian teenager Hailu Mekkonen set a world record for two miles, a mark his more renowned countryman Haile Gebrselassie had targeted.
Running his final indoor race of the season, the Kenyan-born Kipketer, who now competes for Denmark, was timed in 2 minutes 14.95 seconds, shaving .29 seconds off the record he set at Stuttgart Feb. 6.
Kipketer described the race as an ideal way to finish his indoor season before preparing for the Sydney Olympics.
“I won’t run at the European Indoor Championships because it’s a very long season,” he said. “I’m finished. I’m going to celebrate with a little wine, a cognac and a cigar.”
Greene had to get into the blocks eight times during his heat and final. He was guilty of one of the false starts in his heat.
Mekkonen was the ideal replacement for Gebrselassie, who withdrew because of a foot injury. Gebrselassie, already holder of the 3,000 and 5,000 marks, had broken world records on his last two visits to the meet at the National Indoor Arena and intended to go for two miles.
Mekkonen, 19, charged away from compatriot Million Wolde to win in 8:09.66, clipping 3.54 seconds off the mark set by Belgium’s Emi el Puttemans at Berlin in 1973.
