February 17, 2007

Bekele sets world Record in indoor 2,000 meters

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia set a world record for the indoor 2,000 meters of four minutes, 49.99 seconds at the Norwich Union Grand Prix on Saturday, beating a nine-year-old mark of Haile Gebrselassie.

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia set a world record for the indoor 2,000 meters of four minutes, 49.99 seconds at the Norwich Union Grand Prix on Saturday, beating Haile Gebrselassie's 9-year-old mark.

But there was disappointment for Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and American sprinter Xavier Carter in the 400 meters, who had hoped to set records here.

After winning the men's 400, Carter was disqualified for stepping out of his lane before overtaking Robert Tobin of Britain just ahead of the line. Tobin won with 46.07.

"I have no idea why I was disqualified," Carter said. "It's a bit shocking to me because personally I think I ran the race how it was supposed to be ran. I never felt myself stepping on the line. I didn't feel myself breaking into it."

Isinbayeva failed to beat the world mark she set at the "Pole Vault Stars" in Ukraine last week, but a leap of 15 feet, 6inches was enough to land the 24-year-old Russian her third successive victory.

"I had problems with my run-up," Isinbayeva said. "Sometimes I was quick, sometimes I was slower. It was all a bit inconsistent."

Bekele, the Olympic champion and world record holder for 5,000 meters, set the world record running at the same National Indoor Arena where Gebrselassie ran his 4:52.86 in February 1998.

"It makes me very happy after all the hard work," Bekele said. "The previous record was very difficult, but I knew I was in good shape to beat it."

www.6abc.com

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