Athletics: Tsegay smashes 1500m indoor world record

[February 10, 2021]    (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay smashed the world indoor 1500m record by over two seconds in Lievin, France on Tuesday, beating Laura Muir, who became the first British woman to break the four-minute barrier when finishing second.

Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay celebrates with flowers after winning the women's 1500m and setting a new world record REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

Tsegay blew the rest of the field away at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais with a blistering time of 3:53.09, taking more than two seconds off the world indoor record set by compatriot Genzebe Dibaba in Karlsruhe in 2014.

Muir also impressed, setting a British indoor record time of 3:59.58 to come in a distant second, with team mate Melissa Courtney-Bryant taking third in 4:04.79.

"I'm very happy to set a world indoor record," said Tsegay. "I have been training really hard and I set myself a target to break the world indoor record."

(Reporting by Peter Hall; Editing by Toby Davis)

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