Boldon sixth in Bislett 100m

OSLO: Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon yesterday finished a disappointing sixth in the showpiece 100 metres race at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.

Winner was Mark Lewis-Francis who beat countryman Dwain Chambers, upset conqueror of world record holder Tim Montgomery and Olympic champion Maurice Greene here last year. Lewis-Francis timed 10.12 and beat Chambers for the second time this month by three-hundreths of a second. Berhane Adere of Ethiopia missed the women’s 5,000-metre world record by 1.23 seconds also yesterday. And sprint favourites Kelli White of the United States like Chambers of Britain, who train together in California, also had to settle for second in the 100-metre race. Adere’s time of 14 minutes, 29 point 32 seconds was an Ethiopian and African record. She ran before a near-sellout crowd that included former Norwegian running greats Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen. China’s Jiang Bo set the world mark of 14:28.09 in 1997. “It was a fantastic race,” said Adere, who led an Ethiopian sweep of the first four placings. “I thought it was possible to break the world record. But there was only one pacemaker and that’s probably why I didn’t make it. Hopefully I’ll break it next time.” Werknesh Kidane was second in a personal-best 14:33.04. Third-placed Tirunesh Diababa, 17, broke the world junior record in 14:39.94, and Meseret Defar set a personal-best 14:43.46 in fourth.

White was shaded in the women’s 100 by the Bahamas’ Chandra Sturrup, who clocked 10.96 seconds and won by one-hundredth of a second. “This was a top race,” Sturrup said. “After being injured last season I have trained hard to come back. I ran relaxed the first part of the race. I thought this could be my race and gave my very best in the finish.” White ran a personal-best 10.93 last weekend in the US Nationals at Palo Alto, the fastest time in the world this year. Only three others, among them Marion Jones, have run faster in the last two years. Jones, last year’s winner here, didn’t compete. She’s expecting a baby in July with boyfriend Tim Montgomery, the world 100-metre record holder.