Bislett Games : Cram, Aouita Win but Fail to Break Records

Said Aouita and Steve Cram, the fastest middle-distance runners in history, won their races but failed to come close to their world records Saturday during the Bislett Games track and field meet.

Aouita took the 1,500 meters in 3 minutes 30.69 seconds, more than a second off his world record of 3:29.46.

A short time later, Cram won the “Dream Mile,” the final event of the meet, in 3:50.08, which was 3.76 seconds slower than the world record he set here two years ago.

Each runner was helped by excellent pacemaking and was under world-record pace in his race until the final lap.

Aouita, who came within .44 of a second of Cram’s mile record in a race at Helsinki, Finland, on Thursday, was more than a second ahead of his world-record split time at the 800-meter mark Saturday but ran out of gas a lap later.

“I really tried to beat the world record, but the conditions were not very good,” said Aouita, whose time was the seventh-fastest ever.

“I think it was too windy and cold. Still, I’m happy with my time. It was good preparation for the 5,000 meters,” which he will run in the World Championships at Rome later this summer.

Cram’s split time after 1,200 meters in the mile was more than two seconds faster than his time in 1985, when he was chased in the final lap. This time, he was all alone in front after American James Mays had paced the first two laps.

“The last 200 meters were awfully slow,” Cram said. “The first 1,200 were wonderful.”

Abdil Bile of Somalia was second in the 1,500 in 3:32.73. Third went to Steve Crabb of Britain in 3:33.34. Charles Marsala of the United States was seventh in 3:38.61.

Jim Spivey, who won the 1,500 in the U.S. Championships last week, finished second in the mile in 3:51.91, and Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland was third in 3:54.29. Steve Scott, the American record-holder, was fifth in 3:57.33.

Ingrid Kristiansen also opened strongly but failed to beat the women’s 10,000-meter record for the third consecutive year.

Kristiansen, running alone in front as usual, settled for the fastest time of the year, 31:15.66. She was more than a minute behind the world record of 30:13.74 she set here last year.

Kristiansen, who also holds the world women’s 5,000-meter record and has the fastest marathon time ever by a woman, has been troubled by an ankle injury recently but said it did not bother her in the race.

“I started very fast--perhaps too fast,” she said.

Fatima Whitbread and Linford Christie, a pair of British European champions, turned in strong performances in other events before 19,262 fans at Bislett Stadium.

Whitbread had the second-best javelin throw in history by a woman, 250 feet 5 inches. She set the world record of 254-1 last year.

Christie, the European 100 meters champion, won the 200 meters in a personal record of 20.48 seconds, .01 ahead of American Floyd Heard, who was ranked No. 1 in the world last year.

Tonie Campbell took the 110-meter hurdles in 13.42 for the first American victory of the night. He also won at Stockholm Tuesday. British world junior champion Colin Jackson was runner-up in 13.59.

Olympic champion Doina Melinte of Romania won the women’s 800 meters in 1:57.94 for her fourth victory in eight days.

In the women’s 1,500, Sandra Gasser of Switzerland set a national record in winning the event in 4:01.10, the second-fastest time of the year.

Robert Emmiyan of the Soviet Union won the men’s long jump at 26 feet 10 inches, surpassing by a half inch the 26-year-old stadium record set by American Ralph Boston. Earlier in the year, in a meet in the Soviet Union, Emmiyan became the second man to go over 29 feet.

Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria opened the meet by setting a stadium record of 6-8 3/4 in the women’s high jump.