Kevin Sullivan 7th in 3,000m, breaks Canadian record

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | 5:14 PM ET

Paul Gains CBC Sports

Kevin Sullivan, centre, broke the Canadian 3,000-metre record Tuesday at the Dagens Nyeter Galan track and field meet in Stockholm, Sweden. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Kevin Sullivan broke the Canadian 3,000-metre record Tuesday at the Dagens Nyeter Galan track and field meet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sullivan, 34, finished 7th in a strong field with a time of 7:41.61. His time beat Jeff Schiebler’s 10-year-old record of 7:43.42.

The Brantford, Ontario, native only learned he was in the race on Sunday. He was using this race as preparation for the Beijing Olympics where he will run his specialty, the men’s 1,500 metres. This will be his third Olympic Games appearance.

With his performance Tuesday Sullivan now holds three Canadian outdoor records: 1,500, 3,000 and the mile.

"I am pretty pleased with my race. My manager asked me this morning what I was expecting form the race and I said, at the very least, I was hoping to break the Canadian Record. So that was one goal accomplished." Sullivan said.

"I was hoping to be in the 7:30's, but the way the race played out - we kind of slowed down in the middle and it turned into a big kick. I didn't quite have the change of gears the other guys had," he said.

"I stuck my nose in and I really competed well, I was in the top five or six the whole race. This is a confidence booster especially coming off a 1,500m race in Barcelona a couple of nights ago."

Sullivan now heads to London where he races the mile at the London Super Grand Prix meet on Friday, then its three days of relaxed training in Amsterdam before he leaves for Beijing.

"This reaffirms the fact everything is on track. I have had some solid 1,500m races, nothing I would call outstanding, but I now know the aerobic work is all there. With a little fine turning my 1,500m will come around quickly."

Australia’s Craig Mottram won the star-studded race in 7:37.73 from Isaac Songok of Kenya who was second in 7:38.97. Daham Najim Bashir of Qatar finished third in 7:39.45.

Canadian hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep established herself as a potential Olympic medal candidate Thursday with a victory in the women’s 100m hurdles in Stockholm.

Lopes-Schliep, the reigning Canadian champion, won the event in 12.61 seconds, her fastest time in two years and just 1-100th of a second slower than her personal best.

World indoor champion Lolo Jones, who recently won the U.S. Olympic trials, placed second in 12.64 and Delloreen Ennis-London of Jamaica took third in 12.70.

Tyler Christopher of Chilliwack, B.C., ran a disappointing 5th in his timed section of the men’s 400 metres with a time of 45.41 seconds almost a full second slower than his Canadian record of 44.44.

Jeremy Wariner of the U.S., the Olympic and world champion, won in a time of 44.29 with Pan American Champion Chris Brown of the Bahamas came second in 44.53, and Ricardo Chambers of Jamaica also dipped under 45 seconds with 44.84.

The organizers put on a 1,000-metre race to allow Sudan’s sensational teenage 800-metre star Abubaker Kaki to attempt a world record. Paced by his countryman Abdalla Abdelgadir, the 19-year-old finished the race in 2:13.93 almost two seconds slower than the record of 2:11.96 held by Kenya’s Noah Ngeny.

Earlier this month Kaki won the IAAF world junior 800m gold medal to go with his 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championship gold. He has said the Olympic gold medal will complete his season’s ambition.