Dibaba shatters 15Km World record in Nijmegen! – UPDATED

Nijmegen, The Netherlands – Tirunesh Dibaba broke the World record* for 15 kilometres at the 26th edition of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15Km in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, today.

In her first road race since 2005, the 24-year-old Ethiopian, who is the reigning 5000m and 10,000m Olympic champion, clocked 46:28* to shatter the previous mark of 46:55 set by Kayoko Fukushi of Japan in 2006.

The Zevenheuvelenloop, or Seven Hills Run, is an IAAF Label Road Race. It can now boast both the men’s and women’s World records. Kenyan Felix Limo clocked 41:29 eight years ago on the undulating course in this eastern Dutch city.

It was a double victory for Dibaba as her husband Sileshi Sihine, the two-time Olympic silver medallist in the 10,000m won the men's race in 42:14. He outsprinted Ugandan Nicholas Kiprono who was credited with the same time to win here for the third time.

Dibaba ran impressively especially in the final part of the race. At the 10 kilometre marker she was even with the World record split (31:23) but from that point on she simply accelerated and won by nearly half a minute. Already before the five kilometre point (15:58) her nearest opponent, compatriot Bezunesh Bekele, was 13 seconds back and would later reach the finish line 80 seconds adrift.

Dibaba began carefully. "Although I trained a lot together with my husband for this race, a roadrace is something different," she said. "I did not know what I could expect. Therefore I was not that fast in the beginning."