Kipketer, Marion on course for big booty

Kipketer is storming back to form after a bout of malaria. After one lap of the 800-metre race, he trailed the leading pack by five metres and looked in danger.

But with 200 metres to go, the Kenyan-born runner was on the shoulder of leader David Kiptoo, and a brilliant sprint finish saw him win with five metres to spare and clock a time of 1:42.57 seconds the best of the year.World-record holder Kipketer played down the idea of winning the Golden League jackpot.

8220;Everybody talks about how much money I can win this season but they forget I have to work for it,8221; he said. 8220;I am like everyone else who works for his salary. I can8217;t go after the money without doing the job. I was pleasedwith my race, it is getting better all the time.8221;

Marion didn8217;t win as easily as usual 8211; she was 0.11 seconds ahead of fellow American Inger Miller 8211; but did enough to extend her winning run to 19 races.8220;The most important thing is to get a win. A lot of athletes don8217;t get the recognition they deserve and they really pushed me today,8221; the 23-year-old said.

Szabo ran a brilliant 3,000-metre race. The tiny blond runner, paced by compatriot Luminita Gogirlea, took the lead with 1,000 metres to go.

Five runners were still tightly-grouped but when Gaby pressed the accelerator with 200 metres to go she destroyed every challenge, winning in a time of 8:28.36.

In the last Golden League event in Paris, 23-year-old Szabo, the 5,000m world champion, needed to hold off a strong challenge from Zahra Ouaziz to win in the fastest time of the year, 8:25.59.

This time Szabo didn8217;t have to face Ouaziz, her greatest rival, who returned to Morocco to mourn the death of King Hassan II.

Szabo doesn8217;t want to win thejackpot the easy way, saying: 8220;I missed my biggest rival and only hope that she is back to race with me in Zurich. Why ? Because I was really racing on my own tonight. I want more competition for myself and the public.8221;

The Golden League series jackpot is shared by those athletes who win the same event in all seven meets. Herculis is the fourth in the series with the next event in Zurich on August 11.

Barmasai also won his fourth straight race. Two laps from the end, the 25-year-old world-record holder had established a 40m lead. And it was a one-man procession to the line, which he reached in a seasonal best time of 7:58.99, extending his lead in the process to an astonishing 80 meters.Barmasai has now won all seven of his 3,000-metre steeple chases this season.With the World Championships in Seville less than three weeks away, there was extra attention on events at the Stade Louis I Stadium.

In front of 10,000 fans, conditions in Monaco were muggy but not as stifling as athletes will probably facein Spain.

In a quick 200m race, in-form Maurice Greene clocked his fastest time of the year, 19.92, to hold off a challenge from Frankie Fredericks one hundredth of a second behind. Obadele Thompson was third in 20.11.

8220;It is my first time under 20 seconds this year, so I am glad. After all the good training I have done it comes together by itself,8221; Greene said.Violeta Szekely was another winner. The veteran Romanian had a late start to the season after falling down stairs and fracturing an ankle.

But she continued to make up for a lost time with a 1,500m win in the fastest time of the year, 4:01.49.

Szekely, who won over a mile in Nice last month, pounced late to catch Switzerland8217;s Anita Weyermann right on the line.

The 34-year-old Romanian was out of competition for three years after a positive drugs test at the 1995 World Indoor championships.