byLarry EderGenzebe Dibaba destroyed the World Indoor Record with her fearless running over the 1,500 meter distance. We are most fortunate that Genzeba, the younger sister of superstar Tirunesh Dibaba, moved down from the 5,000 meters (14:37.56) to the 1,500 meters, where she improved her best by two seconds, also running faster than the current Ethiopian outdoor record by a second and one half!
Her big sister Tirunesh has twice been a world record breaker indoors and it was the turn of Genzebe Dibaba to make her own mark on the under cover record books when she smashed the women’s world indoor 1500m record* by more than three seconds with a run of 3:55.17 at theIAAF Indoor Permit meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Saturday (1).
The previous best had been 3:58.28, set by Russia’s Yelena Soboleva in 2006, and Dibaba’s own previous indoor best was 4:00.13. Her time was also more than a second faster than Abeba Aregawi’s Ethiopian outdoor record of 3:56.54.
Slovenia’s Sonja Roman took Dibaba through 400m in 1:02.39 and then 800m in 2:08.96, just under a second faster than Soboleva at this stage in proceedings with the Russian having clocked 2:09.7 after four laps of the track, but soon afterwards the Ethiopian hit the front and then it was just a race between her and the clock.
Dibaba, still only 22, went through 1200m in a sizzling 3:10.67, compared to Soboleva’s 3:13.1, and kept up the tempo all the way to the line.
Poland’s Angelika Cichocka finished a distant second, almost 13 seconds in arrears, in 4:08.15.
Germany’s David Storl continued his fine form, the reigning outdoor world champion beating his indoor counterpart Ryan Whiting.
In a repeat of the gold and silver medal positions from the IAAF World Championships in Moscow last summer, Storl opened with 21.33m and that proved to be the winning throw.
Whiting, who had arrived straight from winning in Bydgoszcz with a world-leading 21.37m on Friday evening, finally got over 21 metres in the fourth round, reaching 21.01m, which proved to be the American putter’s best effort of the night.
World leads from Chepseba, Hassan and Hildebrand
The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan ran a world-leading 3000m time of 8:45.32 coming home ahead of Kenya’s Viola Kibiwot, who was second in 8:48.12.
Another 2014 best time was set in the men’s 1500m when Kenya’s 2013 World Championships fourth-placer Nixon Chepseba crossed the line in 3:37.02. Ethiopia’s Mekonnen Gebremedhin finished second in 3:37.43 after a battle with Chepseba over the final two laps of the race.
Another Kenyan to triumph in Karlsruhe was Caleb Ndiku, who won the men’s 3000m in a quick 7:36.27, the second fastest time of the year.
Germany’s Nadine Hildebrand produced a superb run over the barriers to win the women’s 60m hurdles in a world leading 7.91. In fact, Hildebrand twice set world-leading times and had a brace of personal best outings, after running 7.96 in her heat.
USA’s Jarret Eaton won the men’s 60m hurdles in 7.54, equalling the second fastest time of his career.
Bahrain’s Abraham Rotich overtook Poland’s 2010 European champion Marcin Lewandowski in the final few centimetres of the men’s 800m to win in a personal best of 1:46.30. Lewandowski was given exactly the same time but had to settle for second place, with Spain’s Kevin Lopez third in 1:46.88.
Germany’s Malte Mohr was the only man able to get over 5.75m and won the pole vault.
Sprinter Verena Sailer also notched up a domestic win with a 60m victory in 7.18 in a blanket finish. USA’s Chaunte Bayne and Norway’s Ezinne Okparaebo were also given the same times but after close examination of the photo finish, they were placed second and third respectively.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
To see the entire piece on the IAAF site, please go to: http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/genzebe-dibaba-world-indoor-1500m-world-recor
*Subject to the usual ratification procedures.
