Marion Jones closes in on jackpot

Sevatheda Fynes of The Bahamas was second in 11.07 and Russian veteran Irina Privalova third in 11.12.

The $1 million prize will be shared between those athletes who have won each of their events in the Golden League series. Berlin is the last stop before Saturday’s final in Moscow.

Moroccan Hicham el Guerrouj also stayed in the jackpot race with a straightforward win in the men’s 1,500m. No one responded when world champion El Guerrouj kicked with 300m remaining to cross the line in three minutes 30.23 seconds, well outside the world record of 3:26.00 he set in Rome.

Noah Ngeny of Kenya was a distant second in 3.33.54 and another Kenyan runner, Laban Rotich, was third in 3:33.81.

DoubleOlympic champion Michael Johnson ended his season on a winning note with a comfortable victory in the 400m.

Johnson, who has said he would not travel to Moscow for Saturday’s Grand Prix final, lapped in his seemingly effortless style to clock 44.62 seconds.

Fellow Americans Jerome Young and Tyree Washington were second and third in 45.18 and 45.36 respectively.

American Allen Johnson underlined his supremacy in the 110m hurdles by outsprinting newly-crowned European champion Colin Jackson. World record holder Jackson made a perfect start and was just ahead when he cleared the penultimate hurdle. But Johnson the World and Olympic champion, then surged past him to clock 13.12 seconds.

Jackson had to be content with second place in 13.20 while German Falk Blazer, who was beaten into second place by the Welshman at last month’s European Championships in Budapest, came third in 13.32.

"It was a little bit cold for me," said Johnson, hinting the weather was not quite warm enough for those who had come toBerlin hoping for a world record.

World champion Maurice Greene, who has been through a tough season, was happy just to win the 100m. He did it with a perfect race and a meeting record of 9.94 seconds as a reward. American Jon Drummond was second in 9.98 and Trinidad’s Ato Boldon, the 200m world champion, third in 9.99.

Romanian Gabriela Szabo stole some of the limelight from Marion Jones by becoming the fourth fastest woman over 5,000m.

She set a European record in the final race of the evening, winning in 14 minutes 31.48 seconds.

Haile Gebrselassie also made chasing a fortune look easy by claiming the 5,000m in 12 minutes 56.52 seconds.

The only member of the quartet of jackpot hunters to suffer was American Bryan Bronson. He was given a hard time by France’s Stephane Diagana in the 400m hurldes. Diagana, eager to make up for frustration of last month’s European championships, was still leading after the last hurdle but Bronson won in a late surge.