ATHLETICS: Nearly two hours after it had happened, Dwain Chambers was still clearly upset at finishing second to Tim Montgomery in a race in which the American set a 100 metres world record of 9.78 seconds at the IAAF grand prix in the Stade Charlety in Paris on Saturday.

The Londoner was signing autographs and posing for photographs with eager young fans inspired by a man who had just equalled Linford Christie's nine-year-old European record of 9.87. But Chambers's face screamed: "I was second. Get me out of here!"

In the end his Ukrainian coaching adviser Remi Korchemny rescued him by pulling him on to a coach and as it drew away towards the hotel they could be seen deep in discussion about what had happened earlier.

"I am traumatised by what Tim did, completely traumatised," the 24-year-old said. "I may have equalled the European record today but still I have lost the race. Times are irrelevant to me, what I want is to win races."

Chambers has developed a winning mentality this summer and had expected to beat Montgomery in a race billed as a showdown to determine who would replace the out-of-form Maurice Greene as the world number one.

There can be no doubt now. Not after Montgomery's stunning performance which saw him improve Greene's three-year-old world record by a hundredth of a second. It was perhaps the most surprising world record run since Britain's David Moorcroft set a new mark for the 5,000 metres in 1982.

Great moments are supposed to happen in great theatres and on great occasions. But Montgomery's performance came in a 20,000-capacity stadium which was barely a quarter full and at the end of a long, and sometimes laboured, season.

From the moment the 27-year-old American rose from his blocks almost as quickly as was allowed without a false start being called and began powering down this superfast track, it was clear that this was going to be something special.

At 30 metres Chambers was matching Montgomery stride for stride only to begin to fall behind as last year's world silver medallist found another gear. Try as he might, Chambers, who had led his major rival 2-1 in their clashes this summer, just could not match the fiery pace.

By the time Chambers crossed the line he was a metre behind - a huge difference at this level, especially as he himself had run a time that was 0.07 seconds faster than he had ever run before.

Besides his perfect start, Montgomery also benefited from a wind speed of two metres per second, right on the limit set by the IAAF for record purposes. He was also inspired by running in the same lane five as his new girlfriend Marion Jones had 15 minutes earlier when she won the corresponding women's race to be crowned the overall grand prix champion.

In fact, Montgomery had even used Jones's blocks. When he had set his previous personal best of 9.84 in Oslo last year he had run in her spikes.

It was a profitable day for the Posh and Becks of the athletics circuit. Montgomery collected $250,000 in prize-money and bonuses as his performance catapulted him above Hicham El Guerrouj to win the grand prix, and Jones won $150,000. Among the first to congratulate him was Greene, who had withdrawn from this race because of poor form.

"I had no time objective, I just wanted to beat Chambers," said Montgomery. "This year I got beaten many times by him and I was sort of furious. I went back home and refocused."

Montgomery had predicted in April during a bout of verbal sparring with Greene that he would break the world record this summer, but few took him seriously. "I knew I could break the world record ever since I ran 9.96 at the age of 19 when I had no muscles, no training and no technique. I didn't know when, but I knew I eventually would do it," he said.

"I ran six times under 10 seconds in '97. And I am telling you right now I trained three times a week. So I knew when I got to a programme when I got to six times a week and put in the work that something big was going to happen."

The 9.79 seconds clocked by a drugs-fuelled Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Olympic final, subsequently struck from the record books, had not been bettered in 14 years before Saturday.

Asked if he had seen Johnson's run, Montgomery replied: "No, my first track meet I ever watched was in 1993."

Jones was delighted at her friend's success. "I see him out there in Raleigh every day," she said. "I see him put in the time. I see him dissect his race over and over and over. He gets so excited when he gets something and he gets it right."

Asked about the suspicion inevitably attached to world records, Jones said: "You have such an incredible performance today and you have someone who will immediately suspect something. I think we are all here today to celebrate something outstanding. We are proponents of a drug-free sport and we always have been and we will always will be."