Track and Field

Dennis Mitchell beat the starter’s pistol and Carl Lewis in a 100-meter race at Copenhagen, bringing jeers from about 12,000 spectators but little reaction from Lewis.

Mitchell, a bronze medalist at the Barcelona Olympics, was timed in a wind-aided 9.92 seconds, .03 ahead of Lewis. A replay of the start was shown several times on the scoreboard and strongly indicated that Mitchell left the blocks early.

Organizers acknowledged their mistake but refused a request from Lewis’ manager, Joe Douglas, to have Mitchell disqualified.

Mike Marsh and Gwen Torrence, the Olympic 200-meter champions, were upset. Frankie Fredericks, a double silver medalist in the Olympic sprints, won the men’s 200 in 20.21, edging Marsh by .07. Torrence lost the women’s 200 by .09 to Irina Privalova of the Commonwealth of Independent States, whose winning time was 21.93.