TRACK AND FIELD : Mile, 1,500 Marks Fall to Melinte

Romanian Doina Melinte smashed world indoor records in the women’s 1,500 meters and the mile, but Britain’s Peter Elliott fell just short in his attempt to break those marks in men’s events Friday night in the Meadowlands Invitational track and field meet.

Melinte, 33, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist at 800 meters and the silver medalist in the 1,500, ran the second half of the mile almost by herself after Brit Lind-Peterson of Canada dropped out after setting the pace for about 800 meters.

Melinte, intent on earning the $100,000 that was being awarded to any runner breaking the world record in the mile, finished in 4 minutes 17.13 seconds. She was clocked in 4:00.27 for 1,500 meters.

Melinte had held the mile record of 4:18.86, set in 1988 on the fast, 10-laps-to-the-mile Meadowlands track. The previous record for the 1,500 was 4:00.8, set by Mary Decker Slaney of the United States in 1980 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I expect to keep the money,” Melinte said. “The best thing about (the Romanian) revolution is that now I can keep all the money.”

Elliott, coming off a brilliant victory in the 1,500 meters at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, last week, thought he had a shot at Eamonn Coghlan’s indoor record of 3:49.78 and the $100,000 bonus that was on the line. But he couldn’t maintain a fast early pace and finished in 3:52.02, breaking the British indoor record of 3:53.70 he set in finishing second to Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan in the 1988 Meadowlands mile.

Also, two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom won for the first time in the indoor track and field season, and double Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee suffered her third consecutive loss, falling to LaVonna Martin in the women’s 55 hurdles.

The 400-meter world record-holder Butch Reynolds was declared the winner of the 600-yard race after first-place finisher Danny Harris was disqualified for knocking down Antonio McKay.