Ethiopians set Birmingham arena alight
Ethiopians Gelete Burka and Tirunesh Dibaba and Deresee Mekonnen posted impressive showing today at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham.
Ethiopia's Gelete Burka set a stadium record of 4:23.53 in winning the women's mile race.
She pulled away on the final lap to set a PB of 4:23.53, defeating her 18-year-old team-mate Kalkidan Gezahegn, who set a world junior indoor record of 4:24.10, with two-time world 1500m champion Maryam Jamal from Bahrain faded to third on the last lap. .
The men's 1500m victory went to Ethiopian Deresse Mekonnen in 3:33.10.
Kenya’s Sammy Mutahi took victory in the 3000m, using his superior closing speed to take the win. With a closing kilometre of 2:28.51, the winner of the Glasgow International clocked 7:44.58 to defeat Ethiopian youngster Dejene Gebremeskel, who set a PB of 7:45.42.
The women's two mile race billed as an attempt on the world record did not produce a world best mark but was still a great spectacle for the endurance enthusiasts.
The double Olympic champion took the victory in the second fastest time ever of 9:12.23 but Dibaba had to work hard all of the way as Cheruiyot was closing quickly on the last lap but narrowly missed out on the win, finishing second in a Kenyan record of 9:12.35.
Ejigu, who posted the third fastest 3000m time of all-time at the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart of 8:25.27, moved to No.4 on the all-time two-mile lists with a 9:12.68 PB.
Nigeria's Tosin Oke set a huge Indoor PB with a jump of 16.87m in the Triple Jump and Seun Adigun settle for fourth in the women's 60m albelt in a disappointing 8.13secs.
