Isinbayeva, Richards race for big jackpot

BRUSSELS, Belgium — World pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and American 400-meter runner Sanya Richards remained on course for the $1 million Golden League jackpot Friday, winning their events at the Van Damme Memorial.

Richards ran the season's best time over the 400 meters and Isinbayeva of Russia was flawless to win before failing at the world-record height of 16 feet, 5 1/2 inches.

At Berlin's ISTAF meeting Sunday, both will seek a sweep of their respective events in all six Golden League meets to claim half of the bonus.

"I promised myself I am really going to try and invest it," Richards said. "I made some good money over the past few years but I've done some serious spending."

No bonus was available, but Ethiopia's Meseret Defar certainly made her mark in the two miles.

Defar set a world's best time, smashing the mark she set earlier this year by nearly 12 seconds to finish in 8 minutes 58.58 seconds. She shaved 11.89 second off the mark she set in May at Carson, Calif.

Defar already had set world records in the 5,000 outdoors and the 3,000 indoors early in the season. But because the 2-mile is a rarely run race, the IAAF does not consider it an official world record.

Fellow world recordholder Asafa Powell easily won the 100 meters in 9.84 seconds running into a headwind. He set his world record of 9.74 seconds last Sunday at the Rieti Grand Prix in Italy. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell won the women's 100, and Americans Wallace Spearmon and Xavier Carter finished 1-2 in the 200.

After a disappointing world championships without an individual medal, Richards picked up her early season's form and twice improved on the season's best time in as many meets.

She was No. 1-ranked runner in the 400 coming into the season but, because of illness, failed to qualify for the U.S. squad in her signature event for worlds. Instead, she had to settle for a place in the 200 and finished outside the medals, well behind Allyson Felix.

She earned some consolation as a member of the American gold-medal winning 1,600-meter relay team.

Another win Sunday would ease the disappointment.

"It would make 2007 not as bad as it was," she said.

In Brussels, she used her trademark early kick to comfortably lead by the race's midpoint and was never threatened, winning in 49.29 seconds and beating Britain's Nicola Sanders by 1.05 seconds.

If Richards is picking up the pace, 100 hurdles world champion Michelle Perry is slackening off.