ROME, 9 September 2003 — Moroccan middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj failed to break his own world record for the mile at the Rieti IAAF Grand Prix meeting on Sunday. The race, billed as the world 1,500-meter champion’s assault on his own record, never ignited, and El Guerrouj finished more than seven seconds short in three minutes 50.20 seconds
Behind him in second place, however, Kenya’s William Kipchirchir set a world junior record of three minutes 50.25 seconds, shaving 14 hundredths off the old mark. Other world champions to enjoy victories were Italy’s Giuseppe Gibilisco, who cleared 5.81 meters in the pole vault, and 400 meters hurdler Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, who won his event in a relatively slow time of 48.63.
