Genzebe Dibaba smashes world indoor 1,500m record with 3:55.17 in Karlsruhe
Her big sister Tirunesh has twice been a world record breaker indoors and it was the turn of Genzebe Dibaba to make her own mark on the under cover record books when she smashed the women’s world indoor 1500m record* by more than three seconds with a run of 3:55.17 at theIAAF Indoor Permit meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Saturday (1).
The previous best had been 3:58.28, set by Russia’s Yelena Soboleva in 2006, and Dibaba’s own previous indoor best was 4:00.13. Her time was also more than a second faster than Abeba Aregawi‘s Ethiopian outdoor record of 3:56.54.
Slovenia’s Sonja Roman took Dibaba through 400m in 1:02.39 and then 800m in 2:08.96, just under a second faster than Soboleva at this stage in proceedings with the Russian having clocked 2:09.7 after four laps of the track, but soon afterwards the Ethiopian hit the front and then it was just a race between her and the clock.
Dibaba, still only 22, went through 1200m in a sizzling 3:10.67, compared to Soboleva’s 3:13.1, and kept up the tempo all the way to the line.
Poland’s Angelika Cichocka finished a distant second, almost 13 seconds in arrears, in 4:08.15.
Sifan Hassan
The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan (Ethiopian-born) ran a world-leading 3000m time of 8:45.32 coming home ahead of Kenya’s Viola Kibiwot, who was second in 8:48.12.
Another 2014 best time was set in the men’s 1500m when Kenya’s 2013 World Championships fourth-placer Nixon Chepseba crossed the line in 3:37.02. Ethiopia’s Mekonnen Gebremedhin finished second in 3:37.43 after a battle with Chepseba over the final two laps of the race.
Source: IAAF.org
*Subject to the usual ratification procedures.
