Defar within striking range of her World record in Stuttgart – PREVIEW

Stuttgart, Germany – Even those with short memories will have difficulty forgetting the exciting women’s 3000 metres race at last year’s Sparkassen Cup competition in Stuttgart.

Twelve-months ago Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar not only demolished the previous World record by more than four seconds with an 8:23.72 performance, she also kept the capacity crowd on its feet with a nail-biting finish, denying her compatriot (and an indoor debutante) Meselech Melkamu the record with a victory margin of only 0.02 seconds. For veteran observers of athletics, it was reminiscent of a similarly epic battle in the 1500 between Steve Cram and Saïd Aouita in Nice in 1985 as the 3:30 barrier was pierced for the first time.