EUGENE, Oregon (AFP) — Kenenisa Bekele, of Ethiopia, fell short in his bid to break his own world record but still managed to run the fastest 10,000 metres ever on American soil at Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic.

Bekele, who was competing in his first outdoor race in the United States, finished in 26 minutes, 25.97 seconds, becoming the first runner to break 27:00 in the United States.

The previous mark was held by Abraham Chebii who ran 27:04.20 seven years ago.

Organizers moved the 10,000m up to an early morning time slot in order to boost the three-time World Champion’s chances of breaking his record.

Bekele, who also holds the 5,000m world mark of 12:37.35, was cheered on by a crowd of about 5,000 at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

He ran alone for the majority of the race after lead runner Abreham Feleke dropped out halfway through the race which featured eight Ethiopians and five Kenyans.

Bekele and Defar fail in world record bids
By Steven Mills, June 8th 2008

Ethiopian stars fall short of world records at the Prefontaine Classic, Eugene

KENENISA BEKELE narrowly missed breaking his 10000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene today. The three-time world champion was three seconds off world record pace at 4km, passing through in 10:33 and an opening 5km split of 13:10 meant that the Ethiopian would need to run negative splits for the record.

But with the rabbits gone, the task was to prove too great for Bekele and despite a spirited effort in the final kilometre, the 25-year-old could not break his three-year-old 26:17.53 record but today’s clocking of 26:25.97 was an American all-comers record.

Ibrahim Jeilan (27:13.85) and Maregu Zewdie (27:14.13) were second and third for Ethiopia respectively.

In the 5000m, Meseret Defar was never on the sort of pace to regain her world record, which she lost on Friday night to Tirunesh Dibaba. The world record always looked unlikely from the outset and passing through 4km in 11:44.8, Defar was a long way short of her PB pace.

However, the world and Olympic 5000m champion was a clear first, clocking 14:38.74 to finish more than 100m clear of Vivian Cheruiyot (14:57.43) and Kara Goucher (14:58.10).

– – – – – –

Ethiopian stars fall short of world records at the Prefontaine Classic, Eugene

(Athletics Weekly) — KENENISA BEKELE narrowly missed breaking his 10000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene today. The three-time world champion was three seconds off world record pace at 4km, passing through in 10:33 and an opening 5km split of 13:10 meant that the Ethiopian would need to run negative splits for the record.

But with the rabbits gone, the task was to prove too great for Bekele and despite a spirited effort in the final kilometre, the 25-year-old could not break his three-year-old 26:17.53 record but today’s clocking of 26:25.97 was an American all-comers record.

Ibrahim Jeilan (27:13.85) and Maregu Zewdie (27:14.13) were second and third for Ethiopia respectively.

In the 5000m, Meseret Defar was never on the sort of pace to regain her world record, which she lost on Friday night to Tirunesh Dibaba. The world record always looked unlikely from the outset and passing through 4km in 11:44.8, Defar was a long way short of her PB pace.

However, the world and Olympic 5000m champion was a clear first, clocking 14:38.74 to finish more than 100m clear of Vivian Cheruiyot (14:57.43) and Kara Goucher (14:58.10).