Elvan smashes women's 5,000m world record

Turkish Elvan Abeylegesse smiles as she sets a new world record for the 5,000m event with a time of 14.24.69 at the Exxon Mobil Bislett Games at Fana Stadium in Bergen, part of the IAAF Golden League series, June 11. - AFP

BERGEN (AFP) - Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse sliced more than three seconds off the world record for the women's 5,000 metres at the first Golden League meeting of the season here on Friday.

The Ethiopian-born 21-year-old recorded 14min 24.68sec, smashing the previous mark of 14:28.09 set by the controversial Chinese athlete Jiang Bo in Shanghai in 1997.

Jiang was part of the training group of coach Ma Junren, whose secretive methods have led to widespread suspicion about the records set by his athletes.

"I am very happy," said Abeylegesse.

"I can still improve my time and I also want to bring back Olympic gold from Athens."

Abeylegesse, who has lived in Istanbul since 1999, finished fifth over the distance at last year's world championships in Paris but has made a dramatic improvement this year.

The slight athlete, who weighs just 41 kilogrammes for her 1.59 metres, pushed world title-holder Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia into second in 14:30.88 in a race that upheld the tradition of middle and long distance world records set at the Bislett Games, which were taking place here while the stadium in Oslo is rebuilt. Russia's Yuriy Borzakovsky showed his credentials for the Olympic gold medal in Athens in August by dominating the men's 800m.

He was at the back of the field after the first lap before sprinting past Wilfred Bungei of Kenya in the final 100 metres to record an emphatic win in 1:44.41 that was tactically well-judged by the 23-year-old Russian's eccentric standards.

Bernard Lagat, the Kenyan who cleared his name last year after being banned for a doping offence, gritted his teeth and held off Ukrainian Ivan Heshko by just three hundredths of a second in the 1,500m. In the men's 200m, former world indoor champion Shawn Crawford surprised the favourites as world outdoor gold medallist John Capel had a terrible race.

 -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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