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More news articles Bekele and Defar fail in world record bids
Ethiopian stars fall short of world records at the Prefontaine Classic, Eugene
KENENISA BEKELE narrowly missed breaking his 10,000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene today. The three-time world champion was three seconds off world record pace at 4km, passing through in 10:33 and an opening 5km split of 13:10 meant the Ethiopian would need to run negative splits for the record.
But with the rabbits gone, the task was to prove too great for Bekele and, despite a spirited effort in the final kilometre, the 25-year-old could not break his three-year-old, 26:17.53 record, although his 26:25.97 was an American all-comers' record.
Ibrahim Jeilan (27:13.85) and Maregu Zewdie (27:14.13) were second and third for Ethiopia respectively.
In the 5000m, Meseret Defar was never on the sort of pace to regain her world record, which she lost on Friday night to Tirunesh Dibaba. The world record always looked unlikely from the outset and, passing through 4km in 11:44.8, Defar was a long way short of her PB pace.
However, the world and Olympic 5000m champion was a clear first, clocking 14:38.74 to finish more than 100m clear of Vivian Cheruiyot (14:57.43) and Kara Goucher (14:58.10).
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