El Guerrouj misses world record in 2000 m by half a second

Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj missed by less than half a second the 2,000 meters world record at the Gateshead athletics meet in northern England on Sunday.

The 23-year-old 1,500 meters world champion completed the five-lap race at Gateshead in 4:48.36, missing Noureddine Morceli's world best of 4:47.88, set in Paris in July 1995.

With heavy rain and strong winds blowing in off the North Sea, El Guerrouj appeared on target to set a new world best going into the last lap, but he failed in his third world record attempt in less than a week.

"To run 4:48 in these conditions...that means that if the weather was good I would have done something unbelievable," El Guerrouj said.

"I am not a machine. I cannot run a record every time. I just try to run as fast as I can. World records don't come when you want them to. They come when God wants them to."

On Tuesday, El Guerrouj set a world best 3:26.00 in the 1,500 meters at a meeting in Rome.

The Moroccan will now rest for 10 days before attempting to better his 1,500-meter record in Paris.

For her part, Moroccan 400 m hurdles world champion, Nezha Bidouane came in second with 54.71 behind Blackett Andrea of Barbados with 54.39. The third spot went to Arnardottir Gudrun of Island with 55.60.

In Stuttgart, Zahra Ouaziz won the 1,500 meters with 4:00.60, outpacing Ethiopia's Gete Wami who timed 4:01.47, Map reported.