Gold, not records, the aim of Dibaba in Sopot

Thus far in the 2014 indoor season, Genzebe Dibaba  (Ethiopia) has looked a million dollars – what with her three global marks in 14 days last month.

“I think we’re looking at a phenomenon,” Paula Radcliffe ventured, after watching the 23-year-old Ethiopian demolish Meseret Defar’s old two-mile world indoor best with a 9:00.48 clocking at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 15 February.

Now, as the younger of the phenomenal Dibaba sisters prepares for the climax to her trailblazing indoor campaign, the 3000m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships here on the Baltic coast in Sopot, it is gold that she has in her sights, rather than records and the dollar signs that come with them.

At the eve-of-championships press conference, Dibaba was asked whether she now regretted inflicting so much damage on the 3000m mark in Stockholm on 6 February, reducing it from 8:23.72 to a stunning 8:16.60 (five days after her 3:55.17 record in Karlsruhe), given the $50,000 bonus being offered by the IAAF for world record performances in Sopot.

Read more at: IAAF.org