Gudaf Tsegay was just 0.09 sec from breaking the 3,000m world record

After collapsing meters before crossing the final at the World Cross Country Championships in Australia earlier this month, Gudaf Tsegay had another strong experience with negative feelings.

The Ethiopian won the 3,000m race at the World Indoor Athletics Tour final in Birmingham, but was 9 hundredths of a second away from the world record in the event. Gudaf Tsegay, who received the enthusiastic support of the audience, crossed the finish line first in 8:16.69 min. This is the second-strongest achievement in the history of the discipline.

The world record is 8:16.60 min of Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) from Stockholm 2014.

The second place in the 3,000m event in Birmingham today was taken by another Ethiopian – Mizan Alem, with 8:31.20 min. Germany’s athlete Konstanze Klosterhalfen came third with 8:35.14 min.

Gudaf Tsegay is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist in the women’s 5,000m. At the World Athletics Championships, she won a bronze for the 1,500m in 2019 and a silver in this event and gold for the 5,000m in 2022.