LIEVIN, France (AP) — Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma broke a 25-year-old indoor world record in the 3,000 meters on Wednesday at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais.
Girma, who won the silver medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics, covered the distance in 7 minutes, 23.81 seconds at the World Athletics event.
The previous record of 7:24.90 was set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in Budapest in 1998.
Spain’s Mohamed Katir ran faster than the previous record, too, and finished second behind Girma in a European record of 7:24.68.
“I was talking about this world record attempt for the past three days,” Girma said. “My brother is my coach. He told me I had it in me and of course I believed him. I felt really good in training and it was my best form ever plus the crowd was very supportive today. I hope the record stays for a long time.”
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