20 June 2001 – Algeria’s Ali Saidi-Sief confirmed himself as one of the
strongest challengers to Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj last night in Strasbourg.
After a seasonal best of 3:30.78 over 1500 metres recorded at the recent IAAF Grand Prix in Athens, where he crossed the line over a second ahead of Olympic champion Noah Ngeny of Kenya, Saidi-Sief now heads the performance lists for the rarely run 2000 metres with 4:46.88, a new Algerian record and just 2.09 seconds off the record for the distance currently owned by El Guerrouj.
Timed through 1000 metres in 2:23.77 and 1500 metres in 3:35.5, Saidi-Sief crossed the line 17 seconds ahead of second place finisher Morocco’s Ali Maataoui.
