Ethiopia's Bekele runs indoor world best for two miles

Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:40pm EST
 
Email | Print | | Reprints | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

LONDON (Reuters) - Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele set a world best for the men's indoor two miles of eight minutes 4.35 seconds at a meeting in Birmingham, England, on Saturday.

Bekele's time was faster than the 8:04.69 mark set by fellow Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie in 2003.

"I'm very pleased. It's incredible for me," Bekele, the world and Olympic 10,000 meters champion, told BBC television.

Norwegian Jaysuma Saidy Ndure won the men's 60 meters in 6.56 seconds, with Briton Simeon Williamson in second in a personal best time of 6.57.

Williamson will hope his time is good enough to secure the second British place for next month's world indoor championships in Spain alongside Dwain Chambers, whose selection has been a hot topic of debate this week because of the two-year ban he served for failing a drugs test in 2003.

Chambers, who won last week's British trials, was not invited to the Birmingham grand prix.

Sweden's Susanna Kallur, who set a world record of 7.68 seconds for the women's 60 metres hurdles last week, easily won the event in Birmingham with a time of 7.75.

In the men's 400 metres, Canadian Tyler Christopher cruised to victory in 45.80, while American David Oliver won the men's 60 metres hurdles in 7.55.

(Writing by Sonia Oxley, editing by Rex Gowar)

 
Photo

Featured Broker sponsored link

Editor's Choice

Photo

A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours.  View Slideshow 

Most Popular on Reuters

Photo
Bearing Witness
Reuters award-winning multimedia piece, reflecting five years of reporting the war in Iraq.