Alistair Cragg won the European Indoor 3000m title last year

Cragg's time in finishing fifth behind four world-class Kenyans cut almost four seconds off his previous best.

Abraham Chebii won the race in 13:04.56 ahead of Micah Kogo, Benjamin Limo and Jonas Cheruiyot.

Cragg won the European Indoor 3000m title last year and will be among the favourites for the outdoor 5000m title.

His tiime on Saturday would have ranked him second in Europe last year.

At the same New York meeting, Ireland's Roisin McGettigan clocked 4:19.57 to take 11th in the women's 1500m while Marie Davenport was sixth in the 5000m in 15:44.33.

Also on Saturday, Ireland's Joanne Cuddihy improved her personal best to 52.40 which was faster than the time set by Irish number one Karen Shinkins (52.86) in Oslo on Friday night.

At the same meeting in Uden in Holland, Paul Hession had a satisfactory season's opener by ducking under 21 seconds in the 200m with a clocking of 20.98. He also ran 10.52 for the 100m.

Also at Uden, Ciara Sheehy won the women's 200m in 23.72 and finished third in the 100 metres in 11.94.

Michelle Carey won the 400 metres hurdles in 57.49 and finished fifth in the flat 400m in 54.11.

At the same meeting, David Campbell achieved a breakthrough in the 800m which he won in 1:48.88.

In Zaragoza, David Gillick made his seasonal debut and finished third in the 400m in 47.03 in a race which was affected by high winds.

Meanwhile, Sinead Delahunty Evans won the 1500m at the Flanders meeting in Belgium in 4:10.11 which is well inside the European Championship qualifying standard.