STUTTGART, Feb 4: Ethiopia's Meseret Defar broke the women's 3000 metres indoor world record with a run of eight minutes 23.72 seconds here on Saturday.

Her mark beats that of previous holder Liliya Shobukhova, the Russian having run 8:27.86 in Moscow on Feb 17, 2006.

Defar, the 2004 Olympic 5,000 metres gold medallist and the world record over the same distance outdoors, was pushed to the new mark by her compatriot Meselech Melkamu.

Melkamu shadowed Defar throughout the race to reach the line two-hundredths of a second behind in 8:23.74, which was also well under the previous record.

Britain's Jo Pavey finished third in 8:31.50 to make her the sixth fastest women ever despite coming home almost 50m adrift of the leading pair.

Cuba's Dayron Robles clocked 7.38 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year, to beat China's Liu Xiang in the 60-metre hurdles.

Liu, the 2004 Olympic 110-metre hurdles champion and world record holder at the outdoor discipline, had to settle for second in 7.45 seconds which was just short of his personal best and Asian record of 7.43 seconds.

—AFP