It might be the middle of July, but you never know what kind of weather to expect in England. Cool temperatures and an occasional downpour greeted the athletes, resulting in only a few highlights.

There was much pre-meet talk of Tyson Gay attacking the world record in the men's 100-meters, but he seemd happy just to come away with a win in the slowish time of 10.13.

The men's 400-meters was a bust as Jeremy Wariner, who had talked about possibly running in the low 43s (before he knew what the weather would be like), didn't even make it through the first turn as he pulled up after stumbling out of the blocks. And Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee from South Africa, was disqualified for running out of his lane(he was last). Angelo Taylor won the race in 45.25.

Bernard Lagat (3rd-3:36.24) had his 2nd "poor" race (by his high standards) in a row(he was 7th in Paris a week ago Friday). He was leading the men's 1500-meters off the final turn, but couldn't respond when he was passed by Great Britain's Andrew Baddeley (3:34.74) and Portugal's Rui SIlva (3:35.92). Lagat has until August 1st to decide whether to run the 1500 or 5000 (or both) at next month's World Championships in Osaka.

The men's 3000-meters was living up to its billing until Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele sprinted away from Australia's Craig Mottram with 2-1/2 laps to go and went on to win in 7:26.69, the fastest time ever run in Great Britain. Mottram held on for 2nd in a respectable 7:35.00 while Chris Solinsky, who just finished his collegiate career at Wisconsin a month ago, finished 3rd in 7:36.90 to move into 8th place on the All-Time U.S. performers list(see below). Dathan Ritzenhein finished 4th with a personal best of 7:39.03. For more on Solinsky, go to: kimbia.net/newsarticle000171.html

In one of the better matchups of the meet, Allyson Felix (22.35) ran down Sanya Richards (22.44) to win the women's 200-meters. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell, the 2004 Olympic Champion, finished 3rd (22.60). The men's race was won by Wallace Spearmon, who came from behind to nip Jamaica's Usain Bolt at the finish (20.08 for both).

China's Liu Xiang won the latest round in the 110-hurdles war, edging Ryan Wilson (13.23-13.27) for the win. Finishing 3rd was Anwar Moore (13.35), followed by Cuba's Dayron Robles (13.37), Allen Johnson (13.39), and Aries Merritt (13.60).

Other U.S. winners: Alice Schmidt in the women's 800(1:59.99), Michelle Perry in the 100-hurdles(12.79), Brian Johnson in the long jump(26-2 3/4), and Aarik Wilson in the triple jump (56-4 3/4).

ALL-TIME U.S. LIST(Performers)
7:30.84 Bob Kennedy 1998
7:33.37 Sydney Maree 1982
7:34.41 Bernard Lagat 2006
7:34.96 Adam Goucher 2001v 7:34.98 Matt Tegenkamp 2006
7:35.84 Doug Padilla 1983
7:36.69 Steve Scott 1981
7:36.90 Chris Solinsky 2007
7:37.04 Jim Spivey 1993
7:37.70 Rudy Chapa 1979

Results:
www.iaaf.org/GP07/results/eventCode=3793/index.html

Some video highlights (Men's 100,200,400,1500): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport