Runner Loses Count of Laps and the Race : Goodwill Games: Suzy Favor finishes fourth after failing to start her kick soon enough in 1,500 meters.

After three laps around the Husky Stadium track, U.S. middle distance runner Suzy Favor simply lost track.

She lost track of the finish line. She lost track of just how the race was being run. And she lost track of any chance at a medal in the women’s 1,500 meters Wednesday.

Favor, 21, a senior at the University of Wisconsin and the current NCAA and U.S. champion at 1,500 meters, failed to start her kick soon enough. She finished fourth, out of the medals, in 4:11.45, two seconds behind gold medalist Natalya Artemova of the Soviet Union (4:09.48).

“I honestly just didn’t know the finish line was there,” Favor said. “I was a little bit disoriented at the start of the race. I thought we had one more lap to go.

“I knew the Soviets had a plan. I stayed back in the middle of the pack and wanted to go with the Russians when they went. As they started taking off, I thought, ‘This is really becoming some race.’ I knew something was happening. I just wasn’t prepared for it to be the end.”

But as Favor turned down the back stretch for the final time, she looked up at the clock. It read 4:00. By that time, it was too late.

“I saw the clock, and it said four minutes,” Favor said. “I thought, ‘Whoa.’ ”

It was a fatal mistake after three laps in a race that was run in what should have been in her favor. The pace was a slow one.

Artemova and teammate Ekaterina Podkopaeva finished 1-2, followed by PattiSue Plumer of the United States.

Just before the kick began, Favor said she heard the bell signaling one lap to go. But a bell didn’t go off in her mind.