1991 Season Reports

Fittingly, the starter for the meet's showpiece event was the indoor WR holder Eamonn Coghlan, himself a seven-time winner of the race.

Fellow Irishman O'Sullivan, though, had inherited Coghlan's mantle as the premier indoor miler after winning a pair of World indoor 1500 golds in '87 and '89.

Algeria's young Morceli, meanwhile, was making his 1991 debut after training for three weeks in Mexico City's altitude.

Morceli let John Hinton set a 1:57.7 tempo through the 880, with O'Sullivan stalking him in 3rd. But then Hinton stepped aside and the spotlight centered on the star duo.

The Algerian was content to lead, never appearign anxious or worred. A 2:5.1 split ensured a fast finish - and O'Sullivan made it a thriller by attacking with 1.5 laps left.

But Morceli repulsed the challenge, then produced his own surge to grab victory for good with more than a circuit to go. His 55.4 closing quarter locked up his 3:53.50 triumph.

O'Sullivan's 57.1 finished his 3:55.17; he commented, "I thought if I ran this fast, I'd win. But he had a lot left."

Morceli said, "Some people feel altitude training hurts speed; that you need a couple of races to reacclimate to low altitude. But your interval times in training tell you if you are in good shape - and my intervals tell me I'm just fine."

Noureddine Morceli felt he could break Coghlan's mile World Record if he could get a 1:54 pace for the first 880 at the Vitalis/Meadowlands Invitational.

He almost did, and he almost did.

The 20-year old Algerian got a 1:54.7 tempo from Air Force lieutenant Mike Michno. Morceli was close behind, with Reuben Reina, Marcus O'Sullivan, Steve Scott & Co. already more than 10y in arrears and fading.

Morceli then took over and made a manful solo charge at Coghlan's 3:49.78, set on the same track in '83. But the second he had needed at the halfway mark was still lacking at the finish. He won by 50y or so in 3:50.81, just a long tick away from the record, while Coghlan watched and said, "Safe for another year."

It was the third fastest indoor mile in history - behind the record and Coghlan's 3:50.6 of '81 - and it hints Morceli's No.1 world ranking was only the beginning.

Said the young Algerian, "Last week was my first race. This week I got rhythm in my legs. The last half was by myself; if I had someone pushing me, I think I would have gotten it. I was expecting Marcus O'Sullivan to push me but it didn't happen."

O'Sullivan, who 2nd fully 50y down thetrack in 3:56.75, didn't duck: "I was dissappointed in how I ran. After the first quarter, I kind of shut off a little bit, and at the halfway, when I realized what I had done, I tried to push it, but it was too late."

The 13-man field produced a lot of jostling in the first lap, but before it was over Morceli had moved to the front and begun to set a hard, steady pace. Only Marcus O'Sullivan tried to stay with him, and the two quickly opened a gap on the field.

After a 58.8 opening split, Morceli turned it up (57.1) to reach the half in 1:55.7. He pulled steadily away from the two-time world indoor champion, and led him by more than a straightaway as he hit the 1320 in 2:52.9.

With no one to push him, the Algerian eased through a 60.1 last quarter to finish in 3:52.99, the fastest ever run in this or any other Madison Square Garden meet, and approximately equal to the 11-lap best set by Eamonn Coghlan's then WIR of 3:52.9 in Los Angeles.

Well up the track, O'Sullivan just held off Eric Henry's closign rush for 2nd, 3:58.62 to 3:58.72. None of the others, most of them sub-4:00 milers, could finish under 4:01.

If Morceli needed to tack an exclamation point onto his indoor American indoor season, this certainly provided it.

He said,"If someone was with me on the last lap, I thought I could break the record. I was feeling very good today. I think 2:52 is not fast for me. I have run 2:47 in practice. I wanted to be in front; I feel more relaxed when I'm ahead of the other competitors.

About his chances at the World Indoor, he said,"Right now I don't see anyone who can beat me." One can certainly think of at least 12 people who might agree.

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The 21-year-old North African trimmed a scant 0.04 from Peter Elliott's 1500 mark with his 3:34.16 clocking.

The on-track clock, triggered by the electric eye at the finish, showed 3:33.14, but that time was generated when one of Morceli's countrymen began his WR celebration a tad early dashed onto the track and across the line.

Morceli, last year's top-rated miler, got help from the kind of fast pace he has said would propel him to record times. He asked for a torrid 1:54 and American Ken Washington, experiences as a rabbit in European outdoor races, obliged with a 1:53.6 before Morceli took over.

Prodded on by the Sevillians' distinctive flamenco clapping, the Algerian carried on alone to the end, dragging Spain's Fermin Cacho (3:35.29) and Portugal's Mario SIlva (3:36.46) to NR's.

Cacho, turned 22 just a week earlier, is obviously a real comer. He now trails only Morceli and Elliott on the all-time list.

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After a season of relative inactivity, Moroccan Aouita didn't appear fully recovered from compartment syndrome surgery, as he was unable to respond to Bob Kennedy's kick in the 3000. The young American took a surprisingly easy 7:48.02 victory over Aouita's 7:48.49.

Twenty minutes earlier, Morceli added the 800 to what appears to be an ever-expanding repertoire. In his first two-lapper in three years - and his first since hitting the elite class, the Algerian made his move on the front-running Paul Ereng with about 300 to go.

The Kenyan seemed to go through several gear changes with 200 left and he tried to kick. But Morceli was in control throughout and won in a PR 1:44.85. Jens-Peter Herold nipped the fading Ereng at the line for 2nd, 1:45.33-1:45.77.

The rabbit's job is often a thankless one - if he goes through too fast, or too slow, he's a bum. Even if he gets it right, he's usually ignored.

Perhaps, even worse, if he contributes to a record, he becomes an object of scorn among the purists. But like it or not, rabbits are now an essential part of modern middle-distance racing.

Brown's assignment in Finland's venerable Olympic Stadium was a straigh-forward one: put together a sequence of steady 28-second 200s that would drag Morceli through a 2:20 kilo.

This far north, the sun was still high in the sky as the bulky 15-man field toed the line at 9:30 p.m. In the invigorating Nordic air, a fast race as in the cards.

Moving quickly to the fore, the lanky Brown flowed through an opening lap of 56.3. Morceli, last year's No. 1 World Ranker, tucked in behind while recording a 56.9.

The tempo dropped off marginally on the second go-round, 57.2s putting Brown at 1:53.5 and Morceli at 1:54.1. As the Mutt & Jeff pair strode down the backstretch, the 5-7.75 Algerian began nipping at the heels of his tall assistant.

At 900m, Brown could sense the end of his usefulness and stepped out of the way. Morceli swept by, forming a troika with defending world champ Abdi Bile and last year's No.2 Simon Doyle. The race for first was now clearly over - all that remained was to see how fast Morceli would run. The answer was, very fast.

Looking as if he had boundless energy in reserve, Morceli continued to pull away. He sped his final lap in 54.7 to lower his PR to 3:31.00 in moving to No.8 on the all-time list.

Doyle and Bile waged a stirring battle for 2nd. Looking anything but smooth, yet exuding raw power, the Aussie whacked a healthy chunk off his PR, edging Bile in the stretch to run a NR of 3:32.78. Bile faded to 3:34.72.

"I would like to thank Ray for his pacing," said Morceli. "He did a good job and ran the splits I asked for. But next time, I will need two rabbits, I could have run faster tonight if I had been pushed toward the end of the race."

On a night of outstanding efforts, Morceli's clearly was the topper, giving as it did so much promise of things to come. Reebok manager Tom Sturak was quick to predict, "A World Record in Stockholm certainly looks likely."

For his part, the confident Morceli added, "If I get the proper race in Stockholm I'll run 3:28."

His 3:31.01 clocking missed his Helsinki PR by a mere 0.01, but it was something on the order of a WR 3:28 he had been looking for on this quick track with supposedly fast rabbits.

Impressive Simon Doyle - with the physique of an Australian Rules Football player - stuck even closer all the way than he had in Helsinki, lowering his NR to 3:31.96.

What resulted was a world-leading win for Morceli, but his 3:49.12 was far short of the hoped-for WR (3:46.32).

"The pace for the first 440y was too fast," analyzed Morceli of Ken Washington 54.0 tempo, "so after the second lap I cut the rhythm and just ran to win." Still, it was the 21-year-old star's best mile ever.

Much of Morceli's success was courtesy of Wilfred Kirochi, who was on the Algerian's shoulder during the last 120m, ensurign that there would be no letup before the tape.

Jim Spivey, as is his wont, ran wide during the last 50m and was able to salvage 2nd, his 3:50.52, passing the Kenyan's 3:50.62. Defending Olympic Champ Peter Rono produced his fastest time ever, 3:51.41 in 4th.

Using triple rabbits - the middle of which was Terrance Herrington - Morceli went through the 2000 in 5:12.7. Then the pace quickened as Khalid Skah, Brahim Boutaib, and Dieter Baumann moved to the front en masse.

Baumann took the lead with about 600 left, but as the bell sounded, Morceli took over, legging the final lap in 53.8 for an Algerian NR 7:37.34. Boutaib (7:38.39) and Skah (7:38.84) took the next spots. Baumann (7:39.10) was 4th, just ahead of Aaron Ramirez, whose 7:41.82 PR showed a great turn of speed as he prepares for the Tokyo 10k.

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His stats are impressive. He was a true unknown until last year when, from nowhere, he finished the last season atop the World Rankings. This season, with a goodly amount of racing still ahead of us, the Algerian whiz tops the event in three events. He is the first in the 1500 at 3:31.00, the mile with 3:49.12, and the 3000 with 7:37.34. A rare 800 gave him 1:44.85, No.8 on the year list.

Morceli is only 21, and a member of the young runners association. Although he hasn't set any World Records he is expected to set them. If he scores this year he will be matched historically with two scorers who exhibited great ability at a much lower age than most milers: