EUGENE (Oregon), May 27: American Marion Jones ran the fastest women’s 100 metres of 2002 and Moroccan world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj posted the year’s best time in the men’s mile at the Prefontaine Classic grand prix meeting on Sunday.

Triple Olympic champion Jones clocked 10.90 seconds to open her 100 metres season while El Guerrouj ran 3:50.89 on a windy, but sun-splashed afternoon.

World record holder Stacy Dragila cleared 4.72 metres to equal the fourth-best women’s pole vault ever outdoors, and world silver medallist Tim Montgomery overcame a slow start to win the men’s 100 metres in a disappointing — and wind-assisted — 9.97 seconds as world record holder Maurice Greene looked on.

Gusty winds also blew triple world champion Gail Devers to the fastest time ever by an American in the women’s 100 metres hurdles — a wind-assisted 12.29 seconds.

American Tim Mack lifted the year’s leading men’s pole vault mark to 5.84 metres, while Kevin Toth produced a lifetime best of 22.19 metres in the shot put to eclipse fellow Americans Adam Nelson and John Godina, who threw 21.95 and 21.91 respectively.

Jones, after being charged with a false start, came out of the blocks cautiously but still outran fellow American Tayna Lawrence.

The Olympic champion was also lucky to avoid the Hayward Field wind that hampered El Guerrouj and affected the performances by Montgomery and Devers. Jones’s race went off with a wind of 1.8 metres per second, under the allowed limit.

El Guerrouj, the triple world 1,500 metres champion, fought off the challenge of Kenyan world silver medallist Bernard Lagat with a burst of speed off the final bend, then, with Lagat fading, defeated Kenyan William Chirchir to secure victory.

Chirchir ran 3:51.03 and Lagat 3:52.63.

Leading results (U.S. unless stated):

WOMEN

1,500m: 1. Nicole Teter 4 minutes 12.93 seconds; 2. Regina Jacobs 4:14.95; 3. Madrea Hyman (Jamaica) 4:15.92

400m: 1. Michelle Collins 50.87; 2. Sanya Richards 51.16; 3. Jearl Miles-Clark 51.22

100m hurdles: 1. Gail Devers 12.29 (wind-assisted); 2. Miesha McKelvy 12.51; 3. Lacena Golding-Clarke (Jamaica) 12.70

3,000m: 1. Marla Runyan 8 minutes, 39.36 seconds; 2. Sonia O’Sullivan (Ireland) 8:39.88; 3. Werknesh Kidane (Ethiopia) 8:42.57

Pole vault: 1. Stacy Dragila 4.72 metres; 2. Mary Sauer 4.42; 3. Mel Mueller 4.42

100m: 1. Marion Jones 10.90 seconds; 2. Tayna Lawrence 11.00; 3. Chryste Gaines 11.10

100m: 1. Marion Jones 10.90 seconds; 2. Tayna Lawrence 11.00; 3. Chryste Gaines 11.10

Discus: 1. Aretha Hill 63.48 metres; 2. Beatrice Faumuina (New Zealand) 63.17; 3. Suzy Powell 60.97

MEN

100m: 1. Tim Montgomery 9.97 seconds (wind-assisted); 2. Kim Collins (St Kitts) 9.98; 3. Bernard Williams 10.07

Shot put: 1. Kevin Toth 22.19 metres; 2. Adam Nelson 21.95; 3. John Godina 21.91

110m hurdles: 1. Allen Johnson 13.16 seconds; 2. Terrence Trammell 13.17; 3. Larry Wade 13.21

400m: 1. Angelo Taylor 44.85 seconds; 2. Michael Blackwood (Jamaica) 45.11; 3. Antonio Pettigrew 45.14

High jump: 1. Charles Clinger 2.35 metres; =2. Tora Harris 2.30; =2. Staffan Strand 2.30

5,000m: 1. Abraham Chebii (Kenya) 13 minutes, 13.53 seconds; 2. Ismael Sghyr (France) 13:16.74; 3. Albert Chepkurui (Kenya) 13:17.32

Mile: 1. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) 3:50.89; 2. William Chirchir (Kenya) 3:51.03; 3. Bernard Lagat (Kenya) 3:52.63

Pole vault: 1. Tim Mack 5.84 metres; 2. Toby Stevenson 5.74; 3. Derek Miles 5.74 —Reuters