LIEVIN (France): Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay smashed the world indoor 1,500m record by over two seconds at a meet in northern France on Tuesday, beating Laura Muir, who became the first British woman to break the four-minute barrier when finishing second.

A world bronze medallist, Tse­gay blew the rest of the field away at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais with a blistering time of 3:53.09, taking more than two seconds off the world indoor record set by compatriot Genzebe Dibaba in Karlsruhe in 2014.

Muir also impressed, setting a Bri­tish indoor record time of 3:59.58 to come in a distant second, with team-mate Melissa Cour­tney-Bryant taking third in 4:04.79.

American Grant Holloway ran the second fastest time ever in the men’s 60m hurdles, registering 7.32sec to leave him trailing only Colin Jackson’s world record of 7.30sec from 1994.

Getnet Wale of Ethiopia fell 0.08sec short of the men’s 3000m indoor world record, his time of 7min 24.98sec just shy of Daniel Komen’s mark from 1998.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men’s 1,500m in 3min 31.80, the fifth fastest indoor time in history and a new European record.

Armand Duplantis won the men’s pole vault with a best of 5.86m, the Swede unable to replicate his weekend form in Rouen when he soared to a season-leading 6.03m.

The world record holder grimaced after clearing the bar at the first try and did not attempt another height, quickly putting on his tracksuit.

Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echeva­r­ria, the 2018 indoor world champ­ion, recorded a world-leading jump of 8.25 in the men’s long jump.

He overtook American Marquis Dendy’s effort of 8.21m set in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday. Miltiadis Tentoglou matched that mark as he finished second to Echevarria in France.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2021