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Brussels, September 5
With no fans to cheer them on, four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah and Sifan Hassan broke the one-hour world record rarely run at the Van Damme Memorial gathering.
In an empty stadium due to the coronavirus crisis, Hassan first improved the previous women’s record of 18,517 km set by Dire Tune of Ethiopia at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in 2008 by covering 18,930 km.
In the final race of the match, which is part of the Diamond League series, Farah broke Haile Gebrselassie’s 13-year-old record of 21,285km on her return to the track. Farah, who raced with his training partner Bashir Abdi, set a new world record of 21,330 km.
Abdi took the lead with five minutes to go and challenged Farah to the final stages, but finished eight meters behind.
Farah switched to road racing in 2017, but plans to defend his 10,000m title at the Tokyo Olympics next year.
“I am very happy to break the world record today. What a wonderful way to do it and to show people what is possible, ”said Farah, 37.
Hassan and Kenyan marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei fought hand-to-hand at King Baudouin Stadium. Hassan sped up in the last minute to leave the world marathon record holder powerless in her wake. Kosgei was later disqualified for going off the track.
“An hour is long. It requires a lot of focus and concentration. After the first half I found my rhythm. I am very happy with this album, “said Hassan.
Reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya failed to break the 1,000m record, crossing in 2 minutes 29.92 seconds, below Svetlana Masterkova’s record of 2: 28.98 set in the same stadium in 1996.
Kipyegon set the second fastest time in the distance last month in Monaco with a finish of 2:29:15. Following the steady pace of a pacemaker, he looked on the track to set a new best time until the final 150 meters, but fainted in the final.
In the pole vault, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis couldn’t beat Sergey Bubka’s best outside time of 6.14 meters. The world record holder exceeded 6.00 meters, but failed in three attempts at 6.15. AP
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