Hicham El Guerrouj continued to totally dominate the 1500m and 1 mile events in 1999 as he had done in 1998. His program was somewhat reduced due to the need for surgery, which prevented him from competing at the World Indoor Championships at Maebashi, and defending his world indoor title. The previous year, El Guerrouj had come frustratingly close to breaking Algerian Noureddine Morceli's 1 mile world of 3min 44.39sec, so he had some unfinished business to take care of at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on 7 July 1999. Aided by excellent pace setting, El Guerrouj smashed the world record, setting a new time of 3min 43.13sec. However, the race wasn't all one-sided, as second place-getter Noah Ngeny (Kenya) was also well under Morceli's old record with his time of 3min 43.40sec. El Guerrouj and Ngeny met again in the 1500m at the World Championships in Seville on 24 August. Following a very fast pace set by Moroccan compatriot Adil El Kaouch, El Guerrouj sprinted away from the field, to win the gold medal easily from Ngeny (see photo above). Hicham's time of 3min 27.65sec was the fastest ever in major championships and the fifth fastest time ever run - only he and Morceli had ever run faster. Following the World Championships, El Guerrouj went on a spree of world record attempts, to try to add to those he held already for 1500m and 1 mile. At the Van Damme memorial meet in Brussels on 3 September, he won the 3000m event in 7min 23.09sec, the second fastest time ever run behind the world record of Daniel Komen (Kenya) set in 1996. Four days later, in Berlin, El Guerrouj annihilated Morceli's 2000m world record, taking more than three seconds off the record to set a new mark of 4min 44.79sec. (George Herringshaw)