As it was billed a world record attempt by meeting organizers, all eyes sticked on Ethiopians with proven pedigree. Olympic 10,000m and world indoor 3000m champion Selemon Barega stood strong all the way to the finishing line.
Olympic gold medalist Selemon Barega performed an amazing comeback at ORLEN Copernicus Cup in Turin-Poland. In the men’s 3000m, Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega set a world lead and meeting record in the 3000m in a brilliant display of front running, holding off Olympic and world 3000m steeplechase fourth-place finisher Getnet Wale.
With the pacemaker peeling away with six laps to go, it looked like anyone’s race as Wale tracked his fellow Ethiopian every step of the way. But, with two laps to go, Wale began to show visible signs of fatigue while Selemon displayed a formidable form that showed his determination to herald his comeback.
The world indoor champion maintained his form right to the finish, sprinting home in 7:25.82 as Wale clocked 7:26.73 – respectively the fifth and ninth fastest times in history.
Both women’s middle distance races also produced world leads and in the 1500m the top three – Freweyni Hailu, Diribe Welteji and Hirut Meshesha – achieved times that placed them third, fourth and fifth respectively on the world all-time list.
Hailu, fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, and world silver medallist Diribe Welteji had a game of cat and mouse, with Welteji seemingly taking charge with three laps left.
Hailu regained the lead with 400m remaining and Welteji then led at the bell, but Hailu made the decisive burst with 100m to go. She ran strongly to the finish to win by 0.19 in 3:55.28 – moving her to No.3 all time. Welteji followed her in 3:55.47 as Meshesha was third in 3:56.47. The top 10 athletes all set indoor personal bests.
In the men’s 1500m, twice world indoor gold medallist Samuel Tefera ran a composed race to win his first race of the season. He made the decisive break with 100m to go, bursting past fellow Ethiopian Biniam Mehary and South Africa’s Tshepo Tshite to win in 3:34.61.
