Athletics Weekly, UK
February 7, 2010
Steven Mills
Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba won the 5000m in 14:44.53 but the double Olympic 10,000m champion did not threaten Meseret Defar’s world record
DOUBLE Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba fell short of regaining her world indoor 5000m record at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on February 6 but the Ethiopian set a world-leading mark of 14:44.53, which has only ever been bettered by three other athletes.
The Ethiopian, who holds the world outdoor record at 14:11.15, has also set three of the four fastest ever indoor 5000m clockings but 24-year-old lost her world indoor record to Meseret Defar last season, who ran 14:24.37 at the GE Galan meeting in Stockholm.
Dibaba looked in shape to mount a strong assault on Defar’s world record, such was the manner of her victory at the Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross Country 8km event last month but the 2005 and 2007 world 10,000m champion did not receive the necessary assistance to achieve this.
Kenya’s Sally Kipyego took second in a PB of 14:52.67.
In the 3000m, Kalkidan Gezahegn upset Tirunesh’s younger sister Genzebe. Gezahegn, who won the silver medal in the 1500m at the World Junior Championships, clocked 8:46.19 to defeat Dibaba, second in an indoor PB of 8:47.01.
Former UK steeplechase record-holder Barbara Parker was a meritorious fourth in a lifetime best of 8:52.90 while Hannah England, fresh from victory at the Millrose Games, also set a PB of 8:56.72 in sixth.
Lennie Waite placed 11th in 9:18.76, falling just outside her PB of 9:16.90.
Former double world champion Bernard Lagat stormed to a US indoor 5000m record of 13:11.50 in his indoor debut at this distance. The 34-year-old used his superior 1500m speed in the final 300m to pull away from the Ethiopian duo of Dejene Gebremeskel and Bekana Daba, second and third in 13:11.78 (both given the same time), while Galen Rupp took fourth in a PB of 13:14.21.
Olympic 1500m silver medallist Nick Willis from New Zealand continued his comeback from injury, taking victory in the mile in 3:55.26 while Belgrave’s Tim Bayley took sixth in 3:59.75, which was just outside his PB of 3:59.58, set three weeks ago.
In the 60m, Ivory Williams took the victory in a race where the first four athletes ducked inside Mark Jelks’s world-leading mark of 6.56. Williams sealed the win with a 6.51 clocking, defeating Michael Rodgers by two-hundredths. Antigua & Barbuda’s Daniel Bailey took third in 6.54, while Travis Padgett finished fourth in 6.55.
Terrence Trammell equalled his season’s best in the 60m hurdles. The former two-time Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist clocked 7.49, which was a meagre 0.01 shy of Dayron Robles’s world-leading mark from Stuttgart.
