When the 'B' 800, at 7:05 p.m., was won in 1:43.11, we knew we were not at a normal track meet.

We took the #2 tram from Bellevueplatz in Old Town, across the Limmart and through elegant downtown, to Letzigrund Stadium in western Zurich.

If you hold a ticket to the meet, there is no charge on the transit.

At the stadium, they did not rummage through our backpacks, confiscate our digital cameras or throw out our water bottles. Instead, they handed us copies of the 98-page program. There was no charge. (The tickets, on the backstretch, cost 115 Swiss francs apiece, or about $90 US.)

The meet has a slow build-up throughout, beginning with 5x80-meter multisex relays for schoolchildren at 5:30 and concluding with the W400 5 hours later.

Along the way are Junior Swiss-only 1500s -- won in 4:27.21 and 3:58.67, to polite applause -- and Under-23 8/15s, won in 2:00.57 for women and 3:37.14 for men. In the U23 M15, the rabbit took out the pace in 56.1/1:54.2!

Every race has a rabbit, some more than one. They are identified as such in the program and wear the word PACE on their singlets.

At 7:20 -- precisely -- there was an opening ceremony using youngsters and some of the meet's star athletes. The biggest cheers went to Maria Mutola and Frank Fredericks.

Field events are few but they are wildly popular, especially among the large, raucuous standing-room crowds at the north and south ends of the oval, 23,000-seat stadium. (A new stadium that will seat 30,000 is in the works.)

The field events are the men's DT, PV, TJ and JT and the women's HJ.

There are no heats, but the 100s had 'B' races. In the women's, Americans Allyson Felix and Muna Lee were no-shows. That afternoon, in the lobby of the Hotel Inter-Continental, Lee had said she was looking forward to her race. Had there been tightness in the leg in the intervening hours, or was there a loss of motivation?

Later in the evening, Suzy Favor Hamilton dropped out of the 1,500 and Marla Runyan the 3k.

American athletes do not dominate this competition, although Allen Johnson, Toby Stevenson and Amy Acuff seemed especially popular.

The races of the night were the men's 100m and 1500m. In the 100, Jamaican Asafa Powell ran down Maurice Greene in the final 20 meters to win 9.93-9.94, establishing him as the Olympic favorite. Most winners here get to wear that mantel.

In the 1,500, the pace was furious: 52.87/1:50.13, whereupon Hicham El Guerrouj went by the rabbit. But he couldn't shake Bernard Lagat, who passed him in the final straight in a sensational race. Both ran 3:27, yet the crowd did not seem especially stirred. My impression was that they wanted El Guerrouj to win his 9th straight race here, and when he didn't, they were disappointed.

The men's discus was followed very closely, especially those throws of Lars Riedel. We presumed that meant many Germans traveled south for the meet.

To aficionados, the biggest moment of the meet was the 6th-round win in the javelin by American Breaux Greer. Greer, hobbling on his one good leg, graciously accepted congratulations from all of his European rivals and a handful of cheers, including ours, from the fans.

And that 'B' 800? The rabbit, David Lelei, came through in a breathtaking 49.28. Youssef Saad Kamel ran the 1:43.11, The first seven runners broke 1:45.

The 21st Weltklasse was underway. /JP/

Results of the "B" race
yes, the B race, men's
800 metres. The "A"
section race, won by
Wilfred Bungei which
featured Wilson
Kipketer from Denmark
and Andre Bucher of
Switzerland, was timed
in 1:43.07.

Virgilijus Alekna of
Lithuania, the 2000
Olympic discus
champion lost to Robert
Fazekas of Hungary and
is no longer in the
running for the Golden
League jackpot. Note the
gold bib that Alekna is
wearing at left. After
Weltklasse 2004, two
men and two women
remained in the hunt for
the Golden League
jackpot of one million
dollars.