Dibaba lives up to billing in Sopot

Sopot, Poland - Fancied Ethiopians Genzebe Dibaba and Mohammed Aman stormed to impressive second golds at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships here yesterday.

The 23-year-old Dibaba, who has broken three world indoor records this season, completely dominated her race, clocking 8min 55.04sec to add the 3000m crown to the indoor 1500m title she won two years ago in Istanbul.

Defending champion Hellen Onsando Obiri of Kenya claimed silver in 8:57.72, with Ethiopian-born Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal taking bronze (8:59.16).

“I moved up with about eight laps to go, but I couldn’t shake them off so I had to increase the pace with 800m to go,” said Dibaba, the younger sister of multi-medal-winning Tirunesh.

“This year I’ve added the 3000m world indoor championships gold to three world records – it’s been a great year. My sister Tirunesh also wanted me to focus on the gold and not the time.”

Aman’s tactical race

Aman defended his 800m title, timing 1:46.40 in a tightly-fought race that saw the capacity crowd erupt when Poland’s Adam Kszczot claimed silver.

“It was a very tactical race, which is to be expected in a final,” said Aman. “I still have to go for the Olympic gold and world records. This is just the beginning, not the end.”

Source: SAPA and AFP