WORLD TRACK NOTES : Switzerland’s Guenthor Is Shotput Winner

STUTTGART, Germany —  At the news conference after the shotput competition Saturday night in track and field’s World Championships, a German reporter asked silver medalist Randy Barnes of the United States to explain his reasons for not shaking hands with new world champion Werner Guenthor of Switzerland.

“I said congratulations and smiled at him, and he just stared at me,” Barnes said. “So I think you’ve got it backward.”

Guenthor confirmed it.

“That’s true,” he said.

But he declined to elaborate.

He did elaborate when the discussion turned to illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, as it almost always does when shotputters sit down with the media, practically reciting word-for-word the Swiss track and field federation’s doping-control regulations.

“I don’t know what this has got to do with the competition,” said Mike Stulce of the United States, who finished third, when Guenthor finished. “Why is it relevant?”

Could it be because both Barnes, the world record-holder, and Stulce, the 1992 Olympic champion, were suspended for two years after the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs the sport, found them guilty of using drugs?

In his first major outdoor competition since returning last winter, Barnes, whose lawsuit against the IAAF is pending, had a best put of 71-6 1/4, more than four feet short of his world record of 75-10 1/4, set in 1990. Guenthor, a three-time world champion, won at 72-1.

“The long layoff has affected me,” Barnes said. “You can’t get into world-record shape in a few months.”

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Lithuanian discus thrower Romas Ubartas became the third athlete in the World Championships, and the third from a former Soviet republic, to test positive for an anabolic steroid. The 1992 Olympic gold medalist finished fourth. Earlier, the IAAF announced that a javelin thrower from Uzbekistan and an 800-meter runner from Russia tested positive.

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There was so much speculation among the media about drug use among the Chinese women when three of them finished 1-2-3 in the 3,000 meters last week that the crowd jeered when two others finished 1-2 in the 10,000 meters Saturday night.

Wang Junxia, 18, finished first in 30:49.30, a world junior record. She ran the final 3,000 meters in 8:42.50. That was faster than Annette Peters ran the 3,000 in winning the U.S. championship.

While most of the other women collapsed to the track at the end of the 10,000, Wang and her silver-medalist teammate, Zhong Huandi, ran around the track on their victory lap as if they were ready to start over.

Commenting on a similar finish by the Chinese women in the 3,000, U.S. miler Jim Spivey said: “Like someone told me, ‘They should at least act like they’re in pain.’ They make it look so easy that it leads to speculation.”

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The 10,000 maniacs? One of the race favorites, 1992 Olympic silver medalist Elana Meyer of South Africa, dropped out early, complaining of excessive jostling.

“That was much more of a roller-derby 10,000 than I’ve ever been involved in before,” said American Lynn Jennings, who finished fifth.

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In the first women’s triple jump competition in the World Championships, Russia’s Ana Biryukova broke the world record with a best of 49-6 1/4. Her teammate, Yolanda Chen, was second at 48-2 3/4.

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After finishing fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Mark Croghan of the United States complained that the insole in his shoe came loose when he went through the first water jump.

“I’m getting out of here,” Nike spokesman Keith Peters said.

Peters had to answer questions when Quincy Watts’ left shoe fell apart during the 400-meter final last week. Like Watts, Croghan wears Nikes.

But the company could not be blamed this time. Croghan inserted the insole himself.