Stuttgart, Germany - In a brilliant display of solo running, Ethiopia’s
Berhane Adere ran alone for the final three kilometres of the women’s
5000m at the Sparkassen Cup meeting this evening and blazed to a World indoor
record of 14:39.29.
Her time was more than eight seconds under the previous record of 14:47.35
by Gabriela Szabo of Romania, achieved five years ago in Dortmund.
Adere appeared to be dissatisfied with the pace being set by Yuliya Krevsun
of Ukraine and later by Alesya Turova of Belarus. Momentarily, at the 1250
mark, Adere went to the lead ahead of Turova in an apparent critique of the
tempo. When Turova finally regained the lead, the Ethiopian gave her a little
push in the back, as if to say “keep this pace hot.”
Finally, after two kilometres, Adere thought she felt the record slipping
away and decided to take off on her own.
Ironically, at that point, she was more than three seconds faster than the
planned pace. And for much of the contest, her lap times were almost a second
faster than those which she and manager Volker Wagner had projected.