Birmingham, UK – It may have been Britain’s national championships but the performance of the day at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium yesterday came from an extraordinary Ethiopian.
Meseret Defar defied the pouring rain to clock 29:59.20 for 10,000m, becoming only the fifth woman to break 30 minutes as she smashed Paula Radcliffe’s UK all-comers’ record by nearly 28 seconds.
More importantly for her, the World 5000m champion grasped her last opportunity to secure a spot on Ethiopia’s 10,000m team for the World Championships in Berlin. Needing to better Ayalew Wude’s 30:11.87 to take the third Ethiopian place, Defar’s heart must have sunk when, after two days of warm weather, the skies darkened just minutes before the nine-strong field was called to the start line…READ MORE
