(Reuters/NAN) Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba ran the fastest ever women’s 2000 metres at the indoor Miting Internacional de Catalunya meeting in Sabadell, Spain on Tuesday.
Her time of five minutes 23.75 seconds sliced almost seven seconds off the previous indoor world record of 5:30.53 set by Romania’s Gabriela Szabo in 1998.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), athletics’ world governing body, said although the 2000m is not an official indoor world record event, Dibaba’s performance was “an outright world record’’.
It said it was faster than the outdoor mark of 5:25.36 set by Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan.
The 25-year-old Dibaba, a three-time world indoor champion, now owns the fastest recorded times indoors.
These are for the 1500m, mile, 2000m, 3000m, two miles and 5000m, as well as the outdoor 1500m world record.