More world records expected in Sopot

The athletics world has been treated to two world indoor records already this year, courtesy of Genzebe Dibaba, so hopes are high that there will be more record-breaking performances in Sopot when the Polish city hosts the IAAF World Indoor Championships (7 to 9 March) exactly one month from today.

Since the 1985 World Indoor Games, the forerunner to the IAAF World Indoor Championships, a total of 38 world records have been set across the history of the event. Naturally, over the course of time, such records become more and more difficult to break, but Dibaba has shown this year that some marks are ripe for the picking.

Within the space of a week, the Ethiopian middle-distance runner has smashed the world indoor records* for the 1500m and 3000m.

In the shorter event, she clocked 3:55.17 in Karlsruhe, taking more than three seconds off the previous mark to set an outright African record.

Then five days later in Stockholm, she improved Meseret Defar’s world indoor 3000m record by seven seconds with 8:16.60, the fastest performance indoors or outdoors since 1993.

Dibaba won gold in the 1500m at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, but in Sopot she will move up to the 3000m. Having comprehensively defeated defending champion Hellen Obiri over that distance in Stockholm, Dibaba is the overwhelming favourite. Read More