MEXICO CITY, May 4: Mexico’s Ana Gabriela Guevara broke the 300m world record running 35.30 seconds at the Grand Prix Banamex on Saturday.

Last year’s world number one broke the old mark of 35.46secs set by England’s Kathy Cook in August 1984.

European champion Ionela Tirlea, of Romania, was second in 36.20 while Olympic 400m gold medal winner Cathy Freeman of Australia finished third in 36.42secs.

The 25-year-old Guevara, who is considered one of Mexico’s finest athletes, was all smiles after the race waving a Mexican flag and thanking the crowd for their support. She collected a string of nine straight victories in 2002.

The 300m is not contested at the Olympics but Guevara can use this as a confidence booster for the 400m which she plans to run at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

In the men’s 100m, Canada’s Nicholas Macrozonaris upset American world record holder Tim Montgomery to win in 10.03 seconds.

Macrozonaris spoiled the season debut of Montgomery, who was second in 10.04 seconds. American Jon Drummond was third in 10.07 seconds.

Montgomery was far from the peak form shown in producing a 100m world record of 9.78 seconds last September 14 in Paris. He blamed the defeat on a poor start.

“I am very surprised,” Montgomery said. “This is the first race of the year. I think I had a bad start today. That is what happened.”

The result was a bad omen for a season that includes next month’s United States Championships, the qualifying meet for the World Championships.—AFP