Switzerland's greatest Olympic medal hope in track and field, Andre Bucher, beat the 800-metre world record holder, Wilson Kipketer, in Friday's Golden League Meeting in Brussels. But, in a whisker-close finish, failed to clinch the race.

The man who took victory in the much-anticipated race was Algeria's Djabir Said-Guerni.

His time of 1"43.25 couldn't be matched by Bucher. Lucerne's world-class athlete finished the race sixth hundredths of a second behind Said-Guerni in 1"43.31, while Denmark's World Champion, Kipketer, wrapped up his race virtually neck-and-neck with Bucher, just four hundredths of a second behind.

On the women's front, Switzerland's top female athlete, Anita Weyermann, put on an impressive performance by Swiss standards. Though she only finished eighth, she clocked her second best time this year in the 1,500 metres, finishing in 4"05.47 (just seven hundredths of a second short of her personal best this year). Her compatriot, Sabine Fischer, finished 10th, with a time of 4"07.83

Meanwhile, American world sprint champions Maurice Greene and Marion Jones proved they were hitting their best form with the Sydney Olympics just weeks away. They pulled off awe-inspiring 100 metres victories.

Greene clocked a superb 9.88, while his compatriot, Bernard Williams, was second in 10.01 seconds, and Trinidad's Ato Boldon came in third in 10.02.

Jones, close to a rare defeat at the Zurich Weltklasse two weeks ago, produced an almost perfect start in the women's 100 and powered clear to finish several strides ahead in 10.83. Savatheda Fynes of the Bahamas was second in 11.08.

swissinfo and agencies

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative