Kiptanui Sets 3,000-Meter Steeplechase Record

Kenya’s Moses Kiptanui, the world champion who missed the Olympic Games because of a knee injury, broke the world record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Wednesday in the Weltklasse Grand Prix track meet at Zurich, Switzerland.

It was his second world mark in three days.

Kiptanui finished in 8 minutes 2.08 seconds, well under countryman Peter Koech’s 1989 record of 8:05.35. Sunday, Kiptanui set a world record in the 3,000-meter run at Cologne.

Carl Lewis won the 100 meters in 10:07 seconds, and Gwen Torrence won the women’s 100 in 10.94, with Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers third. Devers won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.57, bettering the Olympic winning time of 12.79.

In other events, world record-holder Kevin Young won the 400-meter hurdles in 47.40; Sergei Bubka took the pole vault at 19 feet 4 1/4 inches; triple jumper Mike Conley, the Olympic gold medalist, came up with a personal best of 58-1 3/4; Quincy Watts topped the 400-meter field in 43.83; Javier Sotomayor bettered his Olympic height in the high jump by clearing 7-8 3/4 before retiring because of a tendon injury, and Mike Marsh won the 200 in 19.95.