The Associated Press
EUGENE, Oregon: A second Ethiopian will try to break a world record June 8 at the Nike Prefontaine Classic.
Meseret Defar will attempt to break her world 5,000-meter mark in a race to be held immediately after countryman Kenenisa Bekele goes after his world 10,000 record, meet officials said Wednesday.
Both races will be held in the morning before the official start of the meet.
Meseret, 24, broke her own world record with a time of 14 minutes, 16.63 seconds last June 15 in Oslo, Norway. She was just 20 when she won the gold medal in the event at the Athens Olympics four years ago.
As with the previously announced race by Kenenisa Bekele, the women’s 5,000 will have a pace-setter, Russian Olga Komyagina, fifth in the 3,000 at the world indoors this year, a race Meseret won. Meseret also won the 5,000 at last year’s world outdoor championships in Osaka, Japan.