ATHLETICS: A transatlantic telephone with her coach will decide which distance double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes will contest in next weekend's World Athletics final.

Holmes is adamant she will not compete twice in Monaco and will speak to her coach Margot Jennings and almost certainly accept the advice of her trusted American mentor.

In the past Holmes would more than likely have made the decision herself, but Jennings has become the most important cog - albeit by chance - in the remoulding of Holmes' career.

Holmes was brought down to earth when narrowly beaten over the metric mile in Sunday's IAAF Golden League meeting in Berlin.

Russian world champion Tatyana Tomashova gained something of a consolation prize after Holmes outsprinted her 15 days earlier for her second Games gold medal.

Holmes, who admits she hates losing any race, was the only Olympic champion of the nine taking part in the German meeting to suffer defeat.

However, it is unlikely Holmes will immediately reveal what distance she will tackle on the Cote D'Azur but will instead keep her rivals guessing.

Currently qualified and entered for both events, she can leave it until 36 hours before the meeting's first day on Saturday, before making her decision.

Olympic champions Tonique Williams-Darling and Christian Olsson crowned memorable seasons by each winning half the million-dollar Golden League jackpot. They made sure of pocketing $500,000 each with comfortable victories in the final round .

Swedish triple jumper Olsson and 400 metres runner Williams-Darling, of the Bahamas, were the only athletes still in contention for the prize divided between competitors who win each of their events at the six showcase meetings.

The 24-year-old Olsson, who has lost only once this year, confirmed he was in a class of his own with a best mark of 17.45 metres at his second attempt.