Alistair Cragg continued his recent excellent indoor form with another 3,000 metres victory, at the Tyson Invitational meeting in Arkansas.
The Irishman, who recently defeated Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele in Boston, stormed to another success on the third stage of this year's USA Track and Field Visa Championship series.
But it was a close call for US-based Cragg, who just held off Bekele's Ethiopian colleague Markos Geneti by only 0.19seconds.
Cragg, who heads the world indoor 3,000m ranking lists this season, will spearhead the Irish challenge for medals in the European Indoor Championships in Madrid next month.
