Morceli Eclipses Mile Record : Track and field: In same stadium where he set world record in 1,500 meters last year, Algerian trims 1.93 seconds off eight-year-old mark.

Rarely is the world mile record broken by more than fractions of a second. Noureddine Morceli of Algeria did it by nearly two seconds on Sunday.

His time of 3 minutes 44.39 seconds at the Rieti Invitational track and field meet bettered the mark of 3:46.32 set by Britain’s Steve Cram at Oslo in 1985.

It was the second year in a row that the Algerian has set a world mark at this small stadium in the hills north of Rome. Morceli established his record in the 1,500 meters at the stadium last September.

“I hope to come back and break yet another record next year,” the former Riverside Community College runner said.

Morceli, who had the fifth-fastest mile of all time in Brussels on Friday and the third-fastest a week earlier, was always ahead of the clock on his third assault on the record in 10 days.

He was aided by pacesetters for the first 1,200 meters and then the crowd took over, chanting his name as he hurtled toward the record on a sunlit late afternoon.

The 1,500-meter world champion danced a jig of delight when he saw his time before cavorting around the circuit waving a bunch of flowers.

In shattering Cram’s mark by 1.93 seconds, Morceli produced the biggest drop in the record since 1965, when Jim Ryun of the United States lowered the mark of France’s Michel Jazy from 3:53.6 to 3:51.3, a difference of 2.3 seconds.

“I’d been close three times this season, but never had good atmospheric conditions,” Morceli said.

Morceli, 23, took advantage of the cool mountain air to win by more than 11 seconds, with no one close to him after his two pacesetters dropped out. The crowd cheered loudly as he headed toward the finish line with his long, smooth stride.

The record highlighted a brilliant season for Morceli. He won the 1,500-meter gold at the world championships last month and is unbeaten in the 1,500 and mile this year. He has come close to world records in nearly every meet he has run, at distances of 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000 meters, and the mile.

In other events:

--Sergei Bubka, the world record-holder in the pole vault, won at 19 feet, 1/2 inch, then missed three times at a record 20-1 3/4.

--Jon Drummond of the United States ran a personal-best 10.03 in winning the 100 meters and beating Olympic and world champion Linford Christie of Britain for the second time this season. Christie also was timed in 10.03.

--World champion Frankie Fredericks of Namibia easily won the 200 in 19.92.

--Nixon Kiprotich of Kenya recorded a 1993 world best in winning the 800 in 1:43.54.

--Jens-Peter Herold of Germany took the 1,500 meters in 3:34.42.

Morceli also holds world indoor records in the 1,000 (2:15.26) and 1,500 (3:34.16). He was the world indoor and outdoor 1,500-meter champion in 1991 and won the outdoor title again in August.

Earlier this year, Morceli made several attempts to break Eamonn Coghlan’s 10-year-old world indoor mile record of 3:49.78. While he won every race, he fell short of the record.

Morceli’s outstanding year followed a seventh-place finish in the 1,500 at the 1992 Olympics. He blamed that rare loss on a hip injury that sidelined him for 45 days shortly before the Barcelona Games.

“I ran three races before the Games on one leg,” he said. “I struggled. My strides were off balance. I considered not running the Olympic Games.”

Now, Morceli is sound and seemingly unbeatable.

“I don’t see anybody in the world who can push me,” he said.

Said Coghlan: “He runs with no fear. Runners in the Western world have a tendency to create psychological barriers for themselves. He runs at will, with no inhibitions.”

Another of Morceli’s big boosters is Said Aouita of Morocco, the world record-holder at 2,000 and 5,000 meters.

A couple of years ago, Aouita predicted Morceli would be the world’s top distance runner of the ‘90s.

Morceli’s breakthrough came in 1990, shortly after he arrived in the United States to attend Riverside Community College.

He began the year an unknown--he was ranked 49th at 1,500 meters--and finished it ranked No. 1. He won 10 of 13 international races and ran the world’s fastest outdoor 1,500 (3:33.28).

His goal now is to win a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

“Winning at the Olympics is a much higher goal than winning the World Championships, or even a world record,” he said. “For the Olympics, you sacrifice everything for four years.”

Miracle Miles

The progression of the world mile record since Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier on May 6, 1954:

Time Runner Country Date 3:59.4 Roger Bannister Britain May 6, 1954 3:58.0 John Landy Australia June 21, 1954 3:57.2 Derek Ibbotson Britain July 19, 1957 3:54.5 Herb Elliot Australia Aug. 6, 1958 3:54.4 Peter Snell New Zealand Jan. 27, 1962 3:54.1 Peter Snell New Zealand Nov. 17, 1964 3:53.6 Michel Jazy France June 9, 1965 3:51.3 Jim Ryun United States July 17, 1966 3:51.1 Jim Ryun United States June 23, 1967 3:51.0 Filbert Bayi Tanzania May 17, 1975 3:49.4 John Walker New Zealand Aug. 12, 1975 3:49.0 Sebastian Coe Britain July 17, 1979 3:48.8 Steve Ovett Britain July 1, 1980 3:48.53 Sebastian Coe Britain Aug. 19, 1981 3:48.40 Steve Ovett Britain Aug. 26, 1981 3:47.33 Sebastian Coe Britain Aug. 28, 1981 3:46.32 Steve Cram Britain July 27, 1985 3:44.39 Noureddine Morceli Algeria Sept. 5, 1993