Mutola's still No. 1 at Hayward.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

Maria Mutola, to no one's particular surprise, has added another chapter to her story as a living legend at the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet.

On Sunday, as a sellout Hayward Field crowd of 13,244 watched, Mutola won her 15th consecutive race at the IAAF Grand Prix event, charging to the finish line of the women's 800 meters in 1 minute, 58.33 seconds.

It is the fastest time in the world this year. She established the previous fastest 800 of the year when she won her event in 1:58.79 during the Road to Eugene '08 meet at Hayward two weeks ago.

Mutola, the Mozambique superstar who turns 35 in October, overtook Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair as the two motored down the final 100 meters and held her lead to the end.

Sinclair was second in 1:58.61 and Alice Schmidt was third in 1:58.75.

"I think I ran a perfect race," said Mutola, the five-time Olympian, 12-time World Championships gold medalist and most dominant runner in her event for nearly two decades.

"I was watching all the way, making sure I was not going to get caught," said Mutola, the first athlete from Mozambique to win an Olympic or World Championship gold.

"Every year I come here, I have a lot of confidence but I'm always a little bit scared," said Mutola, who lived and trained in the Eugene-Springfield area for most of the decade of the 1990s.

"I do not want to be boxed in with 200 meters to go. Bad things can happen."

Not on this day, they didn't.

And not since the 1991 Pre Classic, when she stepped onto Hayward's historic track for the first time and was shoved into a "did-not-finish" status for the 1,500 by PattiSue Plumer.

"I was a high school kid," Mutola said, grinning. "The 1,500 was not my event. I was using it to train for the 800. It was a learning experience."

Included in the lesson, it seemed, was not to lose at the Pre meet. Mutola learned the lesson.

Track and field historians have agreed that no other athlete has a longer string of victories in a major invitational meet.

Will there be a run at winning 16 straight races at the Pre Classic for the 800 runner who has ranked in the top 10 of the world for a record 16 consecutive years?

It sure sounded like it when Mutola held court with the media after victory No. 15.

"I am retiring after next year," she said, noting that her goals for 2008 - her scheduled final season as an elite athlete - includes a sixth Olympic appearance, this one at the Games in Beijing, and still another Prefontaine Classic triumph.

"But I hope to finish my Prefontaine Classic career with all wins. It is important to me to win every race in Eugene.

"I enjoy running here, and I enjoy winning here. It's incredible here, and I would like to win a 16th time."

Mutola has spent the past 30 days or so training in the San Francisco Bay Area and competing in the two meets - Road and Pre - at Eugene.

She said her plan now is to return to her base in Johannesburg, South Africa, begin her tour of the European circuit and focus on the World Championships at Osaka in August.