At the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, Berihu Aregawi solo ran his way to the fifth-fastest indoor 3000m in history.
The 20-year-old ran 7:26.20 to move to fifth on the world indoor all-time list behind Kenya’s Komen – who achieved his world record in Budapest in 1998, three years before Aregawi was born – and his Ethiopian compatriots Getnet Wale, Selemon Barega and Haile Gebrselassie. It was in Karlsruhe that Gebrselassie had recorded that mark, his 7:26.15 meeting record – then a world record – having been run in 1998.
Following the pacemakers through 1000m in 2:27.20, he was on world record pace, and when the second pacer left the track with seven laps to go, Berihu forged on.
He passed 2000m in 4:56.87 and was roared around the final lap as he crossed the finish line with 7:26.20 on the clock. His previous PB had been the 7:29.24 he ran in Lievin last year – the fastest ever indoor performance by a teenager
Like the men’s 3000m, the women’s 1500m had started off fast. The pacemaker had gone through 400m in a blistering 1:01.80, before Ethiopia’s Hirut Meshesha took over at the front. She led through 800m but by that time it had turned from a time trial to a race, with 2:10.23 on the clock.
After the ambitious start, 2014 world indoor silver medalist Axumawit Embaye surged ahead and hit the bell in the lead, going on to win in a world-leading PB of 4:02.12. Just behind, her compatriots Meshesha and Olympic fourth-place finisher Freweyni Hailu ran 4:02.14 and 4:02.66 respectively ahead of Uganda’s Olympic and world finalist Winnie Nanyondo, who broke her own national indoor record with 4:04.25.