Genzebe Dibaba runs second-fastest indoor 3,000m in history in Sabadell
Just two days after smashing the world indoor mile record in Stockholm, Genzebe Dibaba was back in action on Friday (20), this time over 3000m at the Catalan Centenary Meeting in the Spanish city of Sabadell.
Her appearance hadn’t been specifically billed as a world record attempt, but whenever the IAAF world athlete of the year lines up for a race, it’s clear that the pace will be fast.
Dibaba was lining up alongside fellow Ethiopian Gelete Burka, who was a world indoor 1500m champion back in 2008, so she also knew it wouldn’t completely be a solo effort.
The pair had already caught the pacemaker when she dropped out at 800m, having covered the first four laps in about 2:15.5. Dibaba led through 1000m in 2:49.27 before Burka took up the pace for a lap.
Burka’s lead didn’t last long, though, and Dibaba was back in front at half way, which was reached in about 4:12. She then started to open a gap on her compatriot, stretching it with each of her metronomic 33.5-second laps.
The 2000m mark was reached in about 5:38 and a couple of minutes later Dibaba hit the bell with the clock reading 7:51. A final circuit of 31 seconds brought Dibaba home in 8:22.50, the second-fastest indoor clocking in history behind her own world indoor record of 8:16.60.
Burka, the world 10,000m silver medallist, came through for second place in 8:33.76, her fastest 3000m clocking in any conditions since 2008. 2011 world youth 3000m champion Gotytom Gebreslase was third in 8:54.65.
Read more at: IAAF.org
