On the first day of the championships all eyes were on Ethiopian 3 000m runner Genzebe Dibaba. Dibaba had successfully broken the world indoor record 15 days before the IAAF meeting. The Ethiopian finished first in the women’s 3 000m race just seven seconds shy of her world record of 8:16:60. In the men’s 3 000m, 21-year-old Kenyan Caleb Ndiku finished the race in 7:54: 94, six places in front of South African Elroy Gelant.
One of the highlights of the championships came from the American men’s 4x400m relay race. The team finished the race in 3:02:13 (each 400m was run in less than 75 seconds) to set a new world record and earn themselves $50 000 as a bonus.
Double world champion and Olympian silver medallist Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser- Pryce, also set a new world record. She ran the 60m women’s race in the seventh fastest time ever recorded for the distance. Fraser – Pryce finished the race in 6:98. She told media that she had not expected to do so well as the championships were part of training for upcoming outdoor championships. Fraser- Pryce is now the first woman to win IAAF titles in the 60m, 100m and 200m races and in the 4x100m relay. Great Britain’s Richard Kilty won the men’s 60m race.
South African and Tuks shot put athlete Orazio Cremona finished seventh overall by throwing 20.49m in his first indoor championships and made the finals out of six athletes sent to represent South Africa.
South African Andre Olivier, who is the second fastest 800m athlete, finished fourth in the 400m semi-finals after Polish athlete Marcin Lewandowski was disqualified from his fourth place.
The IAAF’s website experienced its most visits since Berlin 2009. There were 1 million unique daily users and more than 16 million daily page views.
Image: nytimes.com
