Steve Ovett

Sebastian Coe unleashed a dramatic kick after stumbling over a falling opponent to win his 1,500-meter showdown with Steve Ovett in the British Amateur Athletic Assn. Championships at Birmingham, England. Coe recorded a time of 3 minutes 41.38 seconds to win the first race ever on a British track between the former Olympic champions and earned an automatic spot on England's team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. With 500 meters left, Steve Crabb tripped and fell.

Sebastian Coe, the only man to have won two Olympic gold medals in the 1,500-meter run, was left off the British track and field team named Monday for the Olympic Games at Seoul. Coe, 31, winner of the 1,500 in 1980 and 1984, failed to reach the event final in the first British Olympic trials Saturday at Birmingham, England. In other years, trials were not used and the British team was selected on the basis of past performances and successes at major championships.

Sebastian Coe unleashed a dramatic kick after stumbling over a falling opponent to win his 1,500-meter showdown with Steve Ovett in the British Amateur Athletic Assn. Championships at Birmingham, England. Coe recorded a time of 3 minutes 41.38 seconds to win the first race ever on a British track between the former Olympic champions and earned an automatic spot on England's team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. With 500 meters left, Steve Crabb tripped and fell.

Ireland's Frank O'Mara, essentially in the race to be a "rabbit," stole the men's elite race in the Fifth Avenue Mile Saturday, beating a star-studded field that included Steve Ovett, the 1980 Olympic 800-meter gold medalist. O'Mara, a 25-year-old graduate student at the University of Arkansas, outkicked the other 15 runners over the last quarter-mile down one of the world's most renowned thoroughfares to win by .53 of a second in 3:52.

Sebastian Coe, the only man to have won two Olympic gold medals in the 1,500-meter run, was left off the British track and field team named Monday for the Olympic Games at Seoul. Coe, 31, winner of the 1,500 in 1980 and 1984, failed to reach the event final in the first British Olympic trials Saturday at Birmingham, England. In other years, trials were not used and the British team was selected on the basis of past performances and successes at major championships.

Steve Cram's disastrous 1984 season ended with a silver lining, but now the British 1,500-meter Olympic star finds himself at a crossroads in his track career. Cram, currently vacationing in the United States, said he was going to try his hand at the 5,000-meters in a few races this year on the European outdoor circuit. He also was planning to run a number of 3,000-meter races. "I want to use this year to have a go at one or two (5,000s)," he said.

The 1,500-meter race in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was formful in one important respect: For the 16th straight Olympiad, an American didn't win it. For the fourth straight, and the 12th out of the last 16, one didn't even get a medal. It's one of sport's enduring mysteries: What happens to the Yanks in this most American of foot races and distances and events? We never expect to win the luge or the coxed fours or the small-bore rifle prone. But to go 80 years without winning the metric mile?

Ireland's Frank O'Mara, essentially in the race to be a "rabbit," stole the men's elite race in the Fifth Avenue Mile Saturday, beating a star-studded field that included Steve Ovett, the 1980 Olympic 800-meter gold medalist. O'Mara, a 25-year-old graduate student at the University of Arkansas, outkicked the other 15 runners over the last quarter-mile down one of the world's most renowned thoroughfares to win by .53 of a second in 3:52.

Steve Cram's disastrous 1984 season ended with a silver lining, but now the British 1,500-meter Olympic star finds himself at a crossroads in his track career. Cram, currently vacationing in the United States, said he was going to try his hand at the 5,000-meters in a few races this year on the European outdoor circuit. He also was planning to run a number of 3,000-meter races. "I want to use this year to have a go at one or two (5,000s)," he said.

Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett each won 1,500-meter semifinals in the Amateur Athletic Assn. Championships at Birmingham, England, to set up today's final, their first meeting on a British track.

Britain's Steve Cram broke the world record in the 1,500 meters by running the distance in 3 minutes, 29.67 seconds, today. The old record was 3:30.77 set by Steve Ovett of Britain on Sept. 4, 1983, in Rieti, Italy.