Genzebe Dibaba whipped the small Ethiopian crowd into a delighted frenzy, as she stormed to a popular and frantically-wide victory in a dramatic women’s 1, 500m final at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018.
That night really saw a remarkable drama at Arena Birmingham when the great Genzebe won her second gold in three days in 1,500 meters at a time of four minutes 05.27 seconds.
The reporter from the spot wrote: The peerless Ethiopian Genzebe, who had lifted the 3,000 metres title on Thursday, had her work cut out to achieve the double in the metric mile but produced another solo tour de force.
Stretching her pursuers to breaking point by powering for home with almost a kilometre left, the 27-year-old kept Britain’s silver medallist Laura Muir and Dutch defending champion Sifan Hassan at bay to enjoy a convincingly victory.
It made her only the fourth athlete ever to win five individual gold medals in the championships.
She said, “Last year I was sick (when finishing out of the medals at the world outdoor championships in London) but this time I was ready to run for my country.” “This is gold for all the people of Ethiopia.”
Meanwhile, in the men’s race another Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha successfully defended his 3000m title with a powerful display of front running over the final kilometre of a tactical final.
The IAAF World Indoor Tour winner took charge after 2000 metres, which was reached in a comfortable 5:51.71 following a pedestrian 3:08.24 opening kilometre.
Frustrated by the pace and with energy saved from the first 10 laps, Yomif unleashed a final kilometre of 2.22.70. Having covered the final lap in 26.82, Yomif refused to heed his prime position and crossed the line a clear winner in 8:14.41.
His winning time is the slowest in the 32-year history of the championships by more than 10 seconds, but that mattered little to the young Ethiopian. The second was his compatriot Solomon Berega.
“I’m very happy to be the world indoor champion again,” said Yomif.
“During the race, I saw everyone was very confident but I was the one controlling everybody. When I pushed, I went with my friends and I was able to show off my power. I’m very happy. I am sure the people of my country feel happy by this result.
“This year, I stood second in one of the tours but my coach has been working with me to make my race a little bit faster than it was before. I succeeded in that. In my previous race, I had a problem with my speed in the last few laps and I couldn’t control the race, but after making good training on that I’m very good with my kick at the end.
“Next year, I want to break the 5000m world record,” the confident Yomif predicted.
The third Ethiopian who collected gold in 1, 500m is Samuel Tefera. The reporter from the spot said that 36 days ago the young Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia had never run an indoor track race in his life. Now, he is both the world indoor junior record holder and world indoor champion as he won tactical men’s 1500 in 3:58.19.
In this big international meet Ethiopia stood second with four gold medals and one silver behind the United States of America with a tally of 6 gold medals, 10 silver and 2 bronze medals. Poland won the third place with two gold medals, two silver and one bronze medal. Neighboring Kenya took way behind the 24th place with only one bronze medal.
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