Davoren in narrow defeat

Freda Davoren, of Ireland, produced her best performance of the season when claiming second place over 1,500 metres in tonight’s Gugl-Meeting in Linz.

Davoren followed the pacemaker before gamely challenging eventual winner Jennifer Toomey over the final circuit.

Her brave tactics drew her clear of the chasing pack, although she almost lost the runner-up spot when badly tying up in the final 20 metres.

Toomey, second in last month’s USA Olympic trials, won in a meeting record of four minutes 07.69 seconds, with Davoren rewarded with a summer’s fastest of 4:08.16.

“My legs just turned to jelly,” said Davoren, disappointed at missing the Olympic qualifying standard of 4:05.80.

“I just started to wobble.”

Ukraine’s fast-finishing Nelya Neporadna clinched third position with a time of 4:08.35.

Mark Carroll, despite beating his season’s 3,000m fastest, was run out of first place by fast-finishing Khodir Aggoune.

The Algerian cruised to victory with a late burst of speed to overtake Carroll and win in a time of 7:47.77.

Carroll, who hit the front with 500m of the race left, showed his injury problems might be past history.

He clocked a respectable 7;48.03 to hold off another Algerian, Samir Moussaoui, by 0.27secs.