Another world-class 5,000 metres for Mark Carroll saw him improve his season's best to 13 minutes 8.32 seconds at the Bislett Games in Oslo last night - the third stop on the IAAF Golden League circuit.

It was good enough for seventh place behind six Kenyans, with victory going to Paul Bitok in 13:00.10. Yet again Carroll paced himself wisely to come through the field, eventually finishing not far outside the 13:03.93 Irish record he set in 1998.

With 16 Kenyans in total in the race, it was also a further boost in Carroll's confidence ahead of the World Championships in Edmonton in just three weeks time. His next race comes in Stockholm on Tuesday night over 1,500 metres.

At the Morton Memorial meeting in Santry, a trio of Kenyans again took the honours in the featured miles race, with Fred Cheruiyot just dipping under the four minutes to win in 3:59.73. Andrew was best of the Irish in fourth.

An exciting 3,000 metres saw Keith Kelly falling just short in the chase to catch Kenya's James Getanda - the winning 7:57.19 to 7:57.74. Cork's Fiachra Lombard improved his best to 8:01.90 to take fourth.

David Matthews made a welcome return to competition to win the 800 metres in 1:49.66, and Maura Prenderville improved her lifetime best to 2:05.69 when winning the women's race. Rob Daly did likewise when winning the 400 metres in 46.68 seconds.

Meanwhile, Emily Maher failed to live with the best at yesterday's European under-23 championships in Amsterdam, coming home a disappointed last in the 100 metres final. Despite a good start, her time of 11.93 seconds was well outside her best of 11.58, and nearly half a second behind the winner Sina Schielke of Germany (11.52).