Tirunesh Dibaba broke her own world record in the 5,000 meters

Associated Press

BOSTON: Olympic bronze medalist Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia broke her own world record in the 5,000 meters at the Boston Indoor Games on Saturday to claim a $25,000 bonus and family bragging rights, beating big sister Ejegayeh by 42 seconds.

Tirunesh Dibaba, who was third in the 5,000 at the 2004 Athens Games, finished in 14 minutes, 27.42 seconds — 5 1/2 seconds less than she needed to set the world mark at the Reggie Lewis track two years ago. Her sister won silver in Athens in the 10,000.

"I'm happy to run with my sister because she helps me a lot," said Tirunesh Dibaba, who in 2005 was the first athlete ever to win the world championships at both 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. "Today, she was really under the weather, but she did her best."

Fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar, the reigning outdoor world record holder and Olympic champion at 5,000 meters, was also sick Saturday. But it didn't stop her from outkicking local favorite Shalane Flanagan to win the 3,000 in 8:30.31.

Flanagan, who was running for just the second time since undergoing foot surgery following the 2005 world championships, ran on Defar's heels before the Ethiopian started putting some distance between them in the last two laps. Flanagan finished in 8:33.25 to break the American record by almost 6 seconds.

Today in Sports
Williams shocks Sharapova to win Australian Open Platini to lead European soccer Kuranyi lifts Schalke into first place in Bundesliga
Defar lay on the track floor after the race, while a race official covered her with windbreakers. After about 10 minutes, she rolled over to cough violently, while Flanagan spoke to reporters nearby.

"Defar is really sick," Flanagan said. "She really helped me today. I have to say, if it weren't for her I don't think I would have broken the record because I wouldn't have run so aggressively."

Alan Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's schoolboy record in 2001, won the mile in 3:55.18, taking the lead early and never relinquishing it.

"Everybody knew the pace was going to go fast. I mean, we talked about it beforehand," Webb said. "So I don't know how I surprised anybody by going out fast. By the time I got to 250 meters, I was alone already. So I was kind of like, 'all right.'"

American Shawn Crawford, the Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meters in Athens, won the 60 in 6.55 seconds.